It's hard to believe that 2021 is just around the corner. Given how tough 2020 has been, consider making a New Year’s resolution that will improve your resilience.

Review my blogs and identify one resilience enhancing activity to incorporate into your routine in 2021. Then, follow these steps to ensure that your resilience resolution becomes a reality:

Limit to One Activity

It is much easier to maintain your focus if you have only one change you want to make. Creating a laundry list of changes can be overwhelming, and you're more likely to give up. For example, one year, I wanted to increase gratitude in my life, and I resolved to send a thank you note to a work colleague every workday. Focusing on this one activity made it much easier to turn this resolution into a habit.

Be Specific

Write down a clear and measurable change you'd like to make in your life. If you want to exercise more, specify how many hours per week. If you pledge to spend more time with friends and family, identify how many days per month you want to socialize. This way, you'll know whether you've met your goal.

Identify Barriers

Accurately identifying what will prevent you from doing something is crucial since it will determine your change strategy. If your efforts aren’t working, check to make sure you’ve identified the right barriers. For example, when I resolved to exercise four days per week, I thought my barrier was not having time. However, my strategy to address this didn’t work. When I reconsidered, I realized that my barrier was laziness. I then changed my strategy and was much more successful!

Devise a Strategy

Develop a strategy to minimize or remove the barrier you’ve identified in step three. For example, if the barrier to practicing your hobby is not having the money you need, a strategy could be to create a separate hobby bank account with automatic deposits so you’re not competing with other financial pressures. My strategy to overcome laziness was to permit myself to watch my favorite TV show only when I was on the exercise bike.

Build-in Motivation

Make a plan to stay motivated. Having friends or colleagues who will join you is a great way to stay motivated. For example, if you want to walk 30 minutes every day, find a group of colleagues who will meet you at a set time and walk together. You're less likely to skip the walk if other people are waiting for you.

Hopefully, these simple steps will help you become more resilient in 2021! What’s your resilience resolution for 2021?

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