It’s almost the end of January! If you had any New Years resolutions or goals for this year, you might already be at a point where you’re tempted to give up. I totally get it – I’ve been there too! Nevertheless, I’ve learned that it is actually possible to keep moving on the things you set out to do. If you’re struggling, follow along for a few tips for sticking with your goals.

Use a Planner

If you’re anything like me, using a planner is an absolute must. I like to plan out my weeks, no matter what it looks like. Sometimes I have super busy weeks that require strict planning, and other times I have slower weeks that allow crafting a more flexible schedule.

Either way, using a planner for time blocking or just giving yourself little reminders of what you want to do can be extremely helpful for reaching those goals. If you’re looking for the best planner for Christians, here’s the one I’m using this year: https://christianplanner.com/

Pro Tip: Spend some time on Sunday evening or Monday morning to plan out your week!

Wake Up Earlier

This is one that absolutely nobody ever wants to hear. If you want to be more intentional about working on your goals or building new habits, then you’re probably going to have to wake up a little bit earlier. There’s only so much time in a day, and if you’re already sleeping in until the very last second, you’re not using that time for growth.

You don’t have to wake up hours and hours earlier, but just 30 minutes to an hour can be extremely helpful for those whose goal is to deepen their relationship with God or to eat a nutritious breakfast.

Wake up & get after those goals!

Start Small and Build

When it comes to setting goals, we often choose huge, life changing ones. While it’s good to aim high, it’s not always helpful when it comes to your starting point. We have to start small and then build off of that; otherwise, it’ll be much too hard to go from 0 to 60 on day 1.

For instance, you might want to start exercising and eating better, but those are extremely difficult to just randomly start doing one day. Not to mention that it’s even more challenging to start doing these two things at the same time.

I introduce to you: habit stacking! Habit stacking is an excellent approach when it comes to building new habits because it helps us break them down into digestible pieces.

Sticking with our above example of eating better and exercising, you should try to add more nutrient dense foods to your diet first before deciding to cut out anything. This can help you begin to build a healthy relationship with food and understand how eating specific foods makes your body feel. As for exercising, you don’t have to just start going to the gym for hours at a time. Instead, just start with a daily walk or follow along with a 20 minute exercise video.

You don’t have to go all in right out of the gate. Start slow and small – the true key to building new habits is consistency.

Talk Yourself Into It

Let’s be real here – you’re not always going to feel like doing the dang thing. Motivation is so fleeting; in fact, it’s gone more often than not. Sometimes you really have to talk yourself into it!

You might not feel like dedicating your time to your goals, and you especially won’t want to stick with something that isn’t yet a habit. However, you have to practice self discipline in order to get where you’re going. I know this is hard – I’ve been going through it myself. It all boils down to how bad you really want it!

I’m sure we’ve all experienced that internal battle when you’re trying to talk yourself into or out of something. When it comes to your goals, you might have to be more diligent about winning the battles in your head against your less motivated self telling you it’s okay to keeping skipping out on your goals.

Give Yourself Some Grace

While it may feel like a contradiction to the previous point, you do have to give yourself some grace from time to time. It might feel like you’re failing or that you’ve messed up too bad to continue working toward your goal; however, you have to remember that you’re only human and it’s okay to have off days.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is rest, and you can definitely jump back into your good-habit routine even if you fell off the wagon for a little bit. Giving yourself grace is important – it’s a way to show love and care to yourself the same way you would someone else who is struggling.

You might not be 100% every single day, you might have a day or week where you can hardly manage the bare minimum, and honestly, life just happens sometimes. Just because you missed the mark or didn’t even give it a shot today doesn’t mean you give up altogether.

Setting goals is hard, but let’s be real, keeping and reaching them is even harder. I know as well as anyone how challenging it can be to keep moving on a goal, especially when it feels like a never-ending journey. Hopefully, these few tips for sticking with your goals will help you to keep climbing your own mountain, whatever that looks like for you in 2025. Let’s go out and reach those goals together!