Do you realize you are about to receive a huge gift? A huge opportunity? In just days, you are receiving the gift of a brand new year. If you’re still here to experience it, you are blessed. You have a clean slate ahead of you, and you can choose your New Year’s goals and attitude towards them if you’d like.

If you are one of the approximate 25% of Americans who will set New Year’s Resolutions for the new year, there’s one thing to consider first: Are you willing to persevere through the trials while you work to obtain them?

Not every year needs to inspire big changes. Some years are for healing. Some are for basking in peacefulness? And others are for pushing forward.

What is 2024 for you? If you’re ready to set goals, consider this key for success. You can always learn from going through the trials of setting goals and possibly failing, but it’s a better idea to plan for success.

Consider this and set yourself up to obtain your goals in 2024!

New Year’s Goals Success Rates

Just how successful are most people in obtaining their New Year’s Goals?

In studies, over 80% of people fail on New Year’s Resolutions and give up early. Just 8% or so accomplish them. In fact, by mid-January, the majority of those who’ve made New Year’s Resolutions have stopped trying altogether.

Why? What sets the 8% apart from the 80%? Do they have an iron-will and the others do not? Are they just lucky?

I think they know the key. Then, they’ve utilized some tools.

Here is the #1 Key to Accomplishing Goals and New Year’s Resolutions for 2024.

#1 Key to Accomplishing New Year’s Goals

This is no easy button or magic bullet. It’s more like a key you have to find within you, and then learn how to use.

The key to accomplishing goals and New Year’s Goals in 2024?

It’s PERSEVERANCE.

Perseverance is tough. You cannot just wish for it or receive it. It must be built. It’s a muscle that grows from discipline. And, like any muscle, the more you build it, the stronger it will become.

Perseverance can be built by:

1. Picking Your Passion
2. Daring to set goals or try new things.
3. Jumping into action.
4. Giving yourself grace.
5. Finding accountability.

And then repeating, whether on the same goal or another.

We’ve talked in-depth about setting goals and more in previous years. Here, I’ll summarize and point you to more posts as needed.

Let’s build perseverance in 2024!

5 Tools for Building Perseverance

1. Pick Your Passion and Be Prayerful

For most goals to succeed, you must truly *want* them. If you only half-way want a goal or a change, you are much less likely to achieve it. Or, if it’s your friend’s or family member’s idea or passion, it may mean much less to you. If you’re picking a goal for the New Year, pick something in which you have a passion.

In fact, researchers have found that passion towards a goal has a strong link to your outcome. Most people who accomplish a life-changing goal must be in a stage of change in which they have thought about their goals, what it will take to accomplish them, and truly believe that the changes are necessary (1). The more you are willing to “do whatever it takes” the more you are likely to build up perseverance and accomplish your goal.

And what’s more, it’s easier to make your passions fun. If you are dreading a goal or habit, it won’t be fun and you’ll likely not accomplish it. Researchers find that the more fun and rewarding a goal-activity, the more likely participants will stick with it (2).

Lastly, true passions are often from God. When your goals line up with His will for you, whether for your health, your career, or your heart, you have all the power you’ll ever need. So pray about them. Ask God for guidance, and trust in Him.

2. Be Brave, Write Down Goals, and Make them Smart

Typically, you’ll start off with big goals – the end-product. And this is fine. But you can’t stop there. You must support big-picture goals with action-based habits. These habits are things you do…not things you wish for. They are actions in which you are in control.

For example, if your goal is to lose 20 pounds, your habit-action goals may be:

1. Buy the Health Zone Essentials and read it.
2. Jump into Beyond Keto Eating and aim to eat just <30 grams net carbs per day with lots of healthy fats.
3. Utilize intermittent fasting from 7 pm to 12 pm (noon) each day, and eat 2 Keto Zone meals and 2 Keto Zone snacks per day.

As you can see, the overall goal is something you hope for, but the habit-goals are what you do. The first will never be accomplished without the latter.

3. Dive Into Action

Here’s where this advice may be a bit different than what you’ve read before.

Don’t wait for motivation. Don’t wait for some crystal-clear perspective of what you should do next. Instead, dive into action. In fact, it’s time to rewire your brain for action.

Your brain does not likely like change. If it did, changes would be easy for everyone. But instead, it will resist.

To overcome the resistance, rewire it for action. This means that you override the “pause” and just act.

First, consider committing to “one big shift” that will allow room for all of your new habits to take hold.  Many times, we set goals for habits, but don’t allow a realistic amount of time or space in our lives to actually be successful in them. Be realistic. Do you need to wake up 30 minutes earlier? Give up 30 minutes of screen time each day? Do you need to make time and space for exercise or preparing healthy meals?

Then, work on action without a pause: If there’s something that’s difficult for you to change, try counting down 5-4-3-2-1 and then immediately springing into action. This may seem silly, but it works. If you’d like to know more about this method, look at Mel Robbins’ work and her “5 Second Rule” method.

4. Give Yourself Grace – Every Day

One common thing among the 80% who fail or give up? They felt they were either on a diet or off, on track to their goal or not, and likely saw it as black and white.

Here’s a secret: it’s almost all gray. There are moments when you’re right on track and when you fail. But that does not mean failure of a whole goal, but just a moment or meal or snack. Give yourself grace and get right back on track.

5. Accountability Will Truly Help

There are a few ways to find accountability. Some are lucky enough to have good friends who understand them, understand their goals, and can give stern accountability without judgment.

• But not everyone has this. If you don’t here are a few ideas:
• Try an online group or forum. Look for the Keto Zone group on Facebook.
• Try a local group at a gym, public health, or hospital that is Keto friendly.
• Keep track of your eating with an online food site or app. Knowing your grams of carbs each day can help you keep yourself accountable.
• Make bets with your kids. For example, hate waking up early to exercise? Bet your kid $5 if you don’t wake up. But, no excuses, you must pay up. It will only take you a few times to pay up before you form this habit.

Together, these tools can help you work through your goals and build perseverance for your New Year’s Resolutions for 2024. As you build it, you will be able to accomplish so much more, year after year, than you’ve ever thought.

Bottom Line

If you’ve struggled to accomplish your goals in the past, perseverance can sometimes feel like something you simply don’t have. But, that’s a lie. You can build it like any muscle. First, identify this as something you recognize and want to do. Then, follow our strategies above to build it. After recognizing this, set goals around something you’re truly passionate about, and use effective tools, decide if you need “one big shift” in your life, and build perseverance with confidence. You can actually accomplish anything with this formula, even your New Year’s Goals for 2024.