HOW TO HIT THE TARGET

Making a health-related New Year’s resolution is one thing, getting it to stick is another thing entirely. Here’s how to go from goal setter to goal getter.

- KAREN FITTALL

Determined to eat healthier or do more exercise this year? You’re not alone. One in two people who make resolutions at the start of a fresh year focus on exactly the same things. Trouble is, research shows that two thirds of them will have given up by the time January 31 rolls around.

With statistics like that, you’d be forgiven for thinking ‘why bother’, but the results of a study published in 2020 show that setting goals can have the desired effect, as long as you’re smart about it.

“It’s good to have a goal set so you can keep it in mind as you continue to monitor your progress,and so you can celebrate once you achieve it,” says the study’s co-author, Dr Dominika Kwasnicka, a behavioural scientist from the University of Melbourne. “But from a behavioural science perspective, we know that specific things work better than others when it comes to goal setting. For example, a goal has to be helpful and it has to work for you. Plus, if you’re too rigid with your goals, they might bring you more frustration than benefit.”

We asked Dr Kwasnicka for a handful of other tips, based on her research, to help turn your goals into a success this year. Here’s her advice.