How do you stick to your New Year’s Resolutions?

Everyone has great intentions for the new year, but how do you make sure you reach your goals?

Words:

• Your New Year’s resolutions are the goals you set yourself for a new year, such as being more active or learning a new skill.
• When you maintain something (for example, a habit) it means you keep it up.
• When you psych yourself out, you are overthinking something to the point where you become very worried or lose confidence in yourself.
• Lofty goals are goals that are very ambitious, but not always realistic.
• When you stay the course, you are sticking to your plan or your goals.
• Accountability, or to be held accountable, means that you feel responsible for your behaviour, often because someone else checks your behaviour.

1. Psychiatrist Dion Metzger is being interviewed in this video. What is she being interviewed about? Describe what the interview is about in a full sentence.

2. There are many reasons why it’s difficult to keep to your New Year’s resolutions. Which reasons are mentioned in the video?

A. People tend to give up when they don’t reach the goals they were hoping for.

B. People are scared of change.

C. People focus too much on their physical health.

D. People set goals that are too ambitious.

E. People set too many resolutions at once.

F. People take their goals one step at a time.

3. Dion Metzger says that people set ‘lofty goals’ and can ‘psych themselves out’ because of it. What does she mean by this? Fill in the missing words from the list. Note: there are two extra words in the list.

ambitious – confident – give up – long – me – plans – insecure

Many people have very […] New Year’s resolutions. They have a ‘new year, new […]’ mindset. They think they have a very […] period of time to achieve these goals. However, they get disappointed or […] when they don’t achieve these goals or don’t see results straight away. That’s why they […] very quickly.

4. Dion Metzger gives several tips on how to stick to your resolutions. Which one of these tips is false?

A. It helps to break down your goals into small bites that you can actually do.

B. It’s better to be general with your goals, rather than making your goals too specific.

C. It’s easier for the brain to change one habit at a time rather than take on two or three.

5. Dion Metzger says she loves the ‘buddy system’ to help you achieve your goals. In your own words, explain what the buddy system is.