New Years Resolutions Infographic

Welcome to 2013 here at MyLifeInALabCoat.com ! Hopefully you are as excited as I am to kick off the new year with a bang. My question for you is: `Have you, like 50% of Americans, made a New Years Resolutions?'

I thought I'd share with you some statistics on the topic. I'll warn you it makes for a rather grim picture.

With such a low success rate, you might think why even bother? Well even if you don't complete your big resolutions, just setting yourself them may make you more likely to complete smaller goals throughout the year. For instance, this past year I set myself the challenge of running a half marathon (Check out all my 25 before 25 goals here) and although I didn't complete it, I did run over 200km, including 2 10km races and a Spartan Mud Race. All of that success was pushed by the bigger goal I set, and worked towards.

What advice do I have for you in setting goals for this upcoming year?

1. Set measurable goals. Rather than 'Study more' say 'Study 1 hour in the library each day'
2. Work your goals into your schedule. I put my goals right into my google calendar, with reminders coming to my phone. And repeated throughout the year.
3. Share your goals publicly. People will often check up with you on your goals: "Hey you wanted to write a novel this year, how's that going?" Knowing other people car will drive you further.
4. Check up on your success. Reevaluate your goals monthly or quarterly to see what needs more work.
5. Set Big Goals. Cliched maybe, but shooting for the moon, you'll at least land among the stars.

Whether you set New Years Resolutions, Have a Bucket List, or set Birthday Goals, any type of well thought out goal setting is always beneficial. So good luck with your resolutions this year.

Feel free to share them in the comments!

Don't forget, to go over to my lifestyle blog www.mylifeOUTOFalabcoat.com to follow my day to day adventures for more fun, recipes, DIYs and more.