---
title: "Eight steps to achieve your New Year's goals"
published: 2016-01-03
updated: 2026-08-04
category: "De todo un poco"
source: "https://dev-abp.massivoai.com/en/articles/ocho-pasos-para-cumplir-tus-metas-de-ano-nuevo"
---

# Eight steps to achieve your New Year's goals

**New Year's resolutions are a classic, just as it is tradition for many not to keep them. The beginning of the year offers an opportunity for renewal, a positive start, and to begin new projects and goals.**

That's very good. Several studies have shown that people who set goals achieve better performance than people who simply decide to do "their best." But it's not easy. Here we leave you with valuable advice so you can succeed in your New Year's resolutions:

**Set a deadline for your goals and execute**. Goals must have a deadline to be met. It doesn't have to be with a specific date and time, but an approximate idea of when you expect to achieve the objective. Otherwise you'll keep postponing the necessary steps to accomplish it and when you realize it, the year has passed and you didn't make it. The deadline goes hand in hand with the ability to execute. On paper everything looks great, but if you don't have the capacity to execute what you planned you won't get anywhere.

**Break the goal into small objectives**. And, related to the previous point, each small objective must have a deadline to be met. A quick example: your goal is to run a half marathon this year and you're starting from zero. Great, that's your main goal, but first, you need to be able to run 10k and even before that you need to start by being able to run 5k. Those are small goals that also need a deadline, and by achieving them you'll be walking (well, running in this case) down the right path. Think of it as a long race with many intermediate goals; as you reach the goals along the way you'll be getting closer and closer to your big objective.

**Set specific, realistic, and challenging goals**. If they're too general you run the risk of getting lost along the way and not knowing well what you're aiming for or why you're doing what you're doing. It's better to say "I'm going to run THIS marathon in THIS time," than to simply say "I'm going to run a marathon." Naturally it should be a realistic goal, otherwise you'll only end up frustrated. And finally it should be challenging, or you run the risk of getting bored and losing interest.

**Write down in detail the steps you need to take to achieve each goal**. Ok, so 5k is the first step. Take a sheet of paper and write down exactly what you need to accomplish this first goal: get a coach, run a certain number of kilometers per week, improve your diet, buy running shoes, sign up for the race, etc., and go fulfilling each requirement within the established deadline.

**Be consistent**. So you start with all the energy training for that first objective, and you fail a couple of days in week three, you get back on track in week four, you fail the entire week five for whatever reason, you succeed in weeks six and seven, you fail again in the next two… If this pattern sounds familiar to you, you've surely had problems meeting your goals in previous years. Consistency is one of the main keys to success. The body adapts to improve and advance, and in the same way it loses its adaptation if the stimulus disappears. Train two weeks yes and another week no and you'll end up dancing back and forth, without seeing major progress toward your goal.

**Persevere**. Good things don't tend to come easy. Everything has a cost and a sacrifice. Along the way you suffer, you lose battles and you fall. Along the way you look up and the goal seems too far away. Sometimes doubt creeps in and you want to stop. That's how it is. If the goal is ambitious enough your willpower will be tested sooner or later. Persevere, get through the bad days and fight for the better ones that are to come.

**Believe in yourself**. Write phrases that encourage you and keep them in visible places, whether on your phone, near your bed, on the fridge, or wherever works best for you. Tell yourself that you can, that you're strong, that you're going to make it. Positive thoughts and the confidence you have in yourself will increase your chances of reaching your goal.

**Share**. Tell the world what you set out to do. Tell your friends, your family, your partner, on Facebook, or however works best for you. When you share your goals with others you acquire a greater commitment to achieving them.

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