Can Social Media help you stick to your New Years Resolutions?
If goals would stick as easily as sticky notes we would have lived in a different society.
It’s 00:53. End of the 3rd day of the year. I am sitting in my bed to write the blog of the day. I am a bit late but at least I am doing it. And I hope you are doing it too. Whatever goals you have for the year I hope you make an effort to stick to them. So while on that topic, let’s talk about if social media helps you stick to your goals or not.
Firstly, in my opinion, New Year’s is the best and worst time to make resolutions or goals. It’s the best time if you do it right. If you can plan out the next 12 months of your life and you stick to it, you will see the benefits. But for many people looking at 12 months of plans in front of them can be daunting, which results in most people not sticking to their goals. So it’s a tricky thing to master, setting goals for the new year.
Now let’s talk about sharing your goals on social media. You have made your goals and now you want to tell the world. You want to let everyone know how you are planning to take initiative this year. Now, this can go in two ways,
On one hand, you might end up putting too much pressure on yourself and might give up sooner. The fact that everyone knows what you want to do, you might suffer from the spotlight effect. You might keep thinking that everyone is waiting to know if you follow through with your goals or not. In reality, no one actually cares. But in your head you know everyone knows and they are waiting for you to slip up. This pressure is not easy to handle and before sharing that resolution online, you need to keep this in mind.
On the other hand, you might end up sticking to your goals and showing people that you did it. We all like to show off and we all are heroes of our own stories. And just like any other hero, we want to overcome our obstacles and reach our goals. The act of sharing on social media can turn into a challenge instead of pressure. You might end up looking forward to crushing the goals you have for the year. If you are someone who loves a good challenge, this approach might actually work for you.
Personally, sharing my goals online does help me stay motivated. But there are some goals that I don’t share online because I think they will put more pressure on me.
For example, I am working towards this goal for when I’m 30 but I don’t share that online. I am also planning to write a blog every single day this year but I haven’t shared that online. I just did it on this blog but no one reads this blog. If you are the one person who reads it do reach out and let me know what is your new year’s resolution if you have one. You can reach me on my Instagram @rash__eeq or just comment here.