How Rhode Islanders can keep their New Year’s resolutions

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The number one New Year’s resolution of 2023 in Rhode Island was to lose weight.

Heading into 2024, Rhode Islanders have a clean slate to keep up with their new resolutions, but that can be harder than it seems.

Hitting the gym, saving money, reading more, feeling better, there are dozens of resolutions Rhode Islanders are hoping to keep up within the new year.

But sometimes, life gets in the way of plans, leading to a broken resolution.

“You want to have a mindset of progress and not perfection. You’re just more likely to achieve if you have that kind of mindset,” explained Brent Franson, the founder and CEO of the app Most Days. “So, if you’re going to successfully achieve your resolution, you’re going to have slips along the way. But the difference between the people who succeed, and the people who don’t succeed, are the people who get back on the horse.”

Franson said that to be successful in keeping a resolution, you should only have one or two things to keep track of, and there are a few more popular resolutions for people in the new year than fixing or improving their finances.

“People are weighing their finances carefully and looking at them at the beginning of the year. And that’s generally a good sign that people are taking the right steps,” said Rod Griffin, the Senior Director of Consumer Education and Advocacy at Experian.

“They’re putting together plans, they’re making resolutions they can stick to, and I think that’s another important tip: you have to be realistic in what your goals are,” Griffin continued.

According to Griffin, one of the best tips for staying on top of your finances is just paying attention to them.

Whether that’s watching your debts, checking your credit score or keeping a budget, keeping a close eye can make a difference.

After the pandemic, Rhode Islanders put a bigger focus on their mental and physical health as well, and there are a few key ways to keep that goal in 2024.

“That means be tender. Be reflective, take care of yourself like you’re taking care of a child. And that means maybe go to bed a bit earlier, move that body, communicate with the people you love, and go easy on yourself,” explained Cara McNulty, the President of Behavioral Health and Mental Wellbeing at CVS.

McNulty also stressed that maintaining your mental health is a key to improving physical health. Even focusing on yourself for a week can make a real difference in how you approach the day.

Even if you can’t keep your full goal, even reaching part of your goal is better than nothing.

“Let’s say you’re somebody who doesn’t run, and you want to run a marathon — The first goal should be to run a 5K, and then you’re going to run a 10K and you’re going to run longer and longer races. So, what happens is when we set goals that are too aggressive, we’re much less likely to achieve them, and then it’s very defeating. We lose confidence in our ability to achieve those goals,” said Franson.