It’s hard to believe that another year has flown by! Like 2020, this year also required students to be flexible, resilient and adaptive to challenges and changes. But a New Year is just ahead and as the month comes to a close, its serves as a good time to reflect upon the year behind and look ahead to the future with new purpose, perspective and goals! The experts at Apex Leadership Co. offer five tips to help parents, teachers and guardians encourage students to make and stick to New Year’s Resolutions:
Make it Personal
New Year’s resolutions and goals are extremely personal. They should have deep meaning for the person making them. Goals shouldn’t be made just to please Mom or Dad (unless it’s cleaning that room!) or because a bestie made that same goal. Students should take some time to dig deep and figure out the changes they really want to make for themselves. And it should never be about trying to change who they are, but rather things they would like to improve in the name of their own happiness. After all, nothing is more personal than developing one’s own personal best for their own self-satisfaction.
Create Realistic Goals
Forget the “New Year, New You” mantra. When creating resolutions and goals, students can instead create some mini goals that align with their unique vision of how they want to improve upon the awesome personalities they already are — and create goals to bring out even more of their inner awesomeness! But this takes time and often baby steps toward change are easier to make than giant ones. So create a plan that includes mini mile markers of success on the way towards that big goal.
Figure Out Your Why
When making New Year’s resolutions, people often find the “what” they want part to be pretty simple. But the harder part might be figuring out “why” they want those things or to achieve those goals. Having a “why” in place is very helpful when the road toward the goal gets a little rocky and giving up seems a lot easier than forging ahead. The why will make all the difference in actually achieving those goals, even when it gets tough and students start to feel like giving up. That why can be the perfect thing to remind them what they are working so hard for — and “why” it’s worth it.
Don’t…
Speaking of giving up, don’t! When the excitement of achieving a New Year’s resolutions wears off and all that’s left is the reality of the work it’s going to take to get there, students may be tempted to toss those goals aside. But before they do, guardians can step in and help them stay the course by encouraging them to look back to see how far they’ve come! Those baby steps may not seem like a lot, but they are adding up to big change. And big change can’t be made without commitment and consistency. So encourage them to keep going!
Create a Reward
Sometimes all a student may need to get back on track or become remotivated to continue working on their resolutions is a little pat on the back. Change is hard and working towards a goal takes effort and dedication every day. Whether they are practicing to make the soccer team or want to see straight As on their next report card, it takes work! Parents and guardians can help reignite their passion for their new purpose with a little
recognition reward for all their efforts thus far. That can serve as the much-needed motivation to help them reach the next step in their plan to achieve their goals.
With purpose, commitment and a little effort, students can achieve anything they want to in 2022. It helps when they have the support and encouragement of parents, guardians and teachers, too! The team at Apex Leadership Co. invites families, schools and students to create some incredible New Year’s goals and a plan to crush them in 2022!
