Let’s face it, most of us will fail at keeping our New Year’s resolutions. We’ll likely give up on our resolutions by the end of January and go back to our old pre-resolution ways. Why is that? In an effort to help you not fail, I wanted to break down a couple of ways in which we’ll fail at keeping our resolutions (whether financial or not).

1. Our hearts aren’t in it

   If you’re not fully committed mentally to succeeding, you’re certainly going to fail. How’s the old saying go…you can accomplish anything you put your mind to? Unfortunately, a lot of us set our resolutions based on things we have either heard we should work at, or things we ‘feel’ like we should be accomplishing at the current stage in our lives. “YoPros are financially sound” or “YoPros are in shape”. As these are other people’s goals for us, when things get tough, we’re much more likely to give up on them. Choose a goal that you actually want to succeed at, and one that your heart is in.

2. We give up before it becomes a habit

   How long do habits take to form…at least 21 days? How many resolutions have you given up before they became a habit? How pitiful we are! Nobody said working at our resolutions will be easy, otherwise we would have accomplished them last year! Commit to your resolutions, and commit to trying more than a week or two! When you feel like giving up, remind yourself that it’s going to take some time for it to become a habit and that you owe it to yourself to stick it out a little while longer. If you’ve chosen a goal that you’re hearts in, it should be a little easier to stick to it!

3. We don’t set up good plans to help us succeed

   As another famous Ben once said (Franklin), “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. Whether its eating healthier, exercising more or improving your finances, these goals certainly require some planning. Sure you can purchase a gym membership, but most of us will stop there. We won’t write “Go to GYM” on our calendars, we won’t wash our gym clothes and we will forget and make evening plans. Changing a habit and setting out to achieve a goal takes planning, and a lot of it! If you want to save money, go to the grocery store on the weekends to buy lunch food. Plan your meals so you’ll be less tempted to stop for fast food on the way home. Set yourself up for success by planning ahead.

4. We don’t surround ourselves with encouragers

   How many people do you tell your resolution to? Putting it casually on Facebook doesn’t count. Surrounding ourselves with positive, encouraging friends/family that are invested in seeing you succeed will greatly strengthen your odds of success. Tell a friend that you want to end 2016 with $2,500 in your bank account. Tell a family member that you want to start a budget and stick to it. Encourage those people to ask you about your resolutions and how they’re going for you. By creating an atmosphere of accountability, we’re much more likely to succeed as we know someone will be checking up on us!

Now that you know what you’re up against, hopefully you’ll be a little better prepared when the urge comes up to quit! For the rest of you, I’m looking forward to February when all the January “get in shape” folks stop coming to my gym! Finally, I’d love to help out with any financial goals that you may have. Feel free to comment here or shoot me an email. Look forward to hearing from you!

Finally finally, I have a small request from you. I’ve been blogging here for 3 years now and it’s absolutely been incredible. I’ve loved hearing and helping readers just like you. I’ve made it a point not to go overboard on advertising on the site because a) I think it’s trashy to fill up a blog with ads and b) I think I’d lose some credibility with you as the reader. It’d be tough to recommend a product that you either don’t need or is contrary to the YMF philosophy. However, to host the site, I do pay a handful of bucks each month for the domain and the hosting. Although I haven’t done this in the past, I figured I had enough readers enjoying my site that I could ask. How would you feel about make a small donation to YMF to help offset some of the hosting fees? I’m not asking for much and will keep blogging even if I don’t get a single dollar, but I did want to ask! If you enjoy the site, if it’s helped you in some way or if you appreciate the mission of YMF, please consider donating $1. That’s right, in true Wikipedia form, if everybody reading this post gave $1, I’d be able to easily cover the hosting fees. No pressure, but thanks in advance! – Ben