January has ended and with that many of our New Year’s Resolutions have also come to a screeching halt.

Maybe your resolutions were around eating healthier, getting a new job, or breaking up with that toxic person you shouldn’t have in your life. And maybe you’ve found yourself at too many drive-thrus, at the same keyboard, and sitting next to that person that you unblocked from social media two weeks ago wondering why it’s a new decade and you still feel the same.

But don’t give up yet! Just because you “broke” your resolution doesn’t mean you can’t restrategize and get back to being on track for your goals.

One of the reasons that sticking to “resolutions” is so difficult is because the word resolution is a firm decision to do or not do something. Look it up in the dictionary – or Google it. But that’s not how most people operate. There are few people who can quit something cold turkey or get up and one day decide to change the way they live their life.

But for the majority of us, life is messy. Life is a series of small choices, one after the other that build up to a larger result. And when we fall into patterns, it takes a lot of work to break them and build new ones. Essentially, it takes time and practice to build a new pattern and normalize it into your life.

I recently heard someone say that instead of resolutions we should call them New Year’s Evolutions and I completely agree with that. Evolutions take time and several permutations to take hold and become integrated into an ecosystem.

After shifting from resolutions to New Years Evolutions, you can use the following as a guide to restrategize:

  1. Break down your evolutions into stages. Your goal may be around getting a promotion at work. But that is not something that will happen overnight. You can take that larger goal and break it down into small stages that provide you with milestones that can help you reach your overall goal.
  2. Think about how your evolutions fit into your daily routine. For example, maybe you want to run a marathon this year. Great! But how does that affect your daily routine? Maybe it means starting small and adding a 15 minute run every morning which means you’ll need to get up earlier each morning. If that’s not feasible, what can you cut in the evenings to give yourself more time? Perhaps you like to watch a specific show after work and you don’t want to give that up to run. But maybe you could watch the show on your phone while running. This allows you to keep the daily comfort of your routine while also working towards your intended goal.
  3. Get the support from friends and family. It can be challenging to set out on a new goal if you’re doing it alone. But often the things we want to accomplish are also things that our friends and family may be pursuing as well. Perhaps you wanted to get a new job this year. Maybe you have a friend that is also interested in getting a new job. You could team up and go to networking events together, edit each other’s resumes, and even go to a coffee shop together to work on job applications. This helps keep both of you accountable and champion each other.
  4. Focus on progress, not perfection. There will be times you stumble and struggle. But don’t focus on getting it right every time. Focus on the progress that you are making and celebrate yourself along the way. If you focus on the challenges or the negative self talk, you’ll definitely fall off your evolution wagon and go back to old patterns. But the more you celebrate the small wins and focus on the positive, the more of a chance you have to evolve your life to fit your vision. Taking the time to remember how many changes you’ve made in the past can help fuel your excitement to continue moving forward.
  5. Re-evaluate on a monthly basis and restrategize as needed. As previously mentioned, life is messy and with that come changes. Maybe you wanted to become a vegan this year but found out you have a medical condition that could make that very challenging but you could still be pescatarian. You may hear a little voice in your head say, “I failed at my goal” or “This isn’t how I pictured it.” Sometimes life happens and you will need to go with the flow of life and restrategize.

February may be here but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the changes in your life that you were so excited about on January 1st. With time and practice, you can always work on evolving into a new you.