New year’s resolutions depend on one thing.

The success of all new years resolutions - all change, in fact - is dependent on one thing.

Whether we call them resolutions, goals, ambitions or just plain old change.

Whether they’re to do with our careers, our family or our health.

Whether you have 10 or 1.

Sticking to them depends on one thing only:

Your ability to keep a promise to yourself.

Because that’s all that we’re doing when we’re resolving to change.

We’re making a promise to ourself.

That we’ll be kinder.

Braver.

Stronger.

Making a promise is easy.

Keeping one is hard.

And when we break the promises we make to ourselves we feel twice the pain.

The disappointment of being let down.

And the shame of being the one who did it.

But until we can keep the promises we make to ourselves, we won’t be able to keep the promises we make to others.

⤵ How do we keep promises to ourselves then?

It’s simple, but not easy.

First, we start small.

Give ourselves some easy wins.

Lower our expectations then increase them slowly over time.

Second, we keep track of our progress.

Privately or publicly, we celebrate our success so far.

To keep ourselves motivated.

And thirdly, we get back on when we fall off.

The goal is a destination, a reason to get back on the horse.

The journey is the real reward.

And after all, the one thing nobler than completing a challenge,

is completing the challenge you’ve already failed.