Once the Three Kings have come and gone the festive season is at an end and the new year really begins. This is when we focus on our New Year’s resolutions, and do everything we can to achieve them and not leave them unfulfilled for another year. So, how do we do this? Experts tend to agree on five basic pieces of advice: be realistic, make the resolutions specific, apply them gradually, think them through, and also accept that we may not succeed.

The mere fact of having good intentions generates positive thoughts, but many of us tend to fail in our resolutions. To avoid this, we need to be realistic when making our list. For example, if you’re not the sporty type, maybe don’t start by planning to do a half-hour run every day; a morning walk might be more appropriate, and already more activity than you were doing until now!

Our resolutions also need to be specific: if you want to do more sport, you may have to make a specific plan to get up a bit earlier every day to have time. But if you’re not a morning person, then try a gradual process to start getting up earlier. The idea is to set an agenda of small challenges, so you can achieve your objective step by step.

Another trick is to tell your partner, friends or family about your resolutions, because once you’ve said them aloud, you’ll tend to be more committed. Even so, the obstacles will be there: they are part of the process. At the end of the day, we don’t always achieve our goals one hundred percent, but we should remember that even getting just halfway there is progress!

At illa Carlemany we wish you all the best!