I wonder how many of you have renegade on your New Year resolutions? We all start off with good intentions, only to be overwhelmed or disappointed with our lack of progress.

We all want to achieve the goals we aspire to, however just ‘wanting’ is not enough. There are several factors that have to be in place for us to succeed; which most of us are aware of or do not consider when we make our resolutions.

Many of us will aspire to either lose weight, drink less or quit smoking; without a proper plan or direction for getting there. However, once we consider all the factors and have projected a probability of our outcome we can see just how feasible it is; or not.

Motivation alone is not enough, however knowing why you want to do something is crucial. When you have a desire that outweighs the pain of your current situation you are more likely to push ahead. It is always a good idea to write a list of all the reasons you want to achieve your goal. That way, if things get tough you have something to check back on and remind you why you’re doing what you’re doing.

When the goal is manageable, and can be achieved without too much effort it is also more likely to succeed. When our ability to attain is too challenged then we are less likely to persevere. Yes, achieving goals does involve pushing ourselves, however, we each have our own threshold of what is acceptable. Especially if you experience mental health challenges.

Having the structure and foundations for success around you is also a crucial factor in succeeding with making changes in your life. When you have support, facilities, and a means to succeed around you then generally most of the steps are in place.

If you want to go to the moon, the means and structure may not be so readily available for you to achieve this. It doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it just means that the journey may be more challenging and requires a lot of effort, time and patience to achieve.

Research has shown that when you want to make changes in your life that tiny changes implemented easily can create big and lasting changes. For example, If you want to include more vegetables in your diet, start by adding one vegetable to your meal, or if you want to drink more water place a glass of water near you and take one sip before you start your meal.

May not sound like much but it is a start to making changes, and when introduced in small ways as shown above it is easier to add to the achievements rather than setting them too high and not meeting them at all.

When we do not achieve our goals, it does not mean that we are failures or weak in some way, it means that everything that was required or needed for the change to succeed was not in place at this time.