At the start of a new year, people create goals or resolutions of things they’d like to accomplish, as this time represents a new beginning. Sometimes the goals created can cause a bit of stress or anxiety, as it may be a new venture or something that has been put off for a while.

The Army has a resource available to assist Soldiers with taking control of their life and accomplishing their goals—the R2 Performance Center. R2PCs offer a variety of training to help Soldiers perform consistently and to their full potential, regardless of circumstances.

The experts at these centers offer a variety of training on myriad topics including:

• Mindfulnes
• Mental-skills foundation
• Attention control
• Energy management
• Goal setting
• Imagery
• Academic performance training

When setting new goals, we can sometimes get sidetracked; this can be due to other demands or the inability to sustain the motivation over a long-term period. The performance experts at the R2PCs teach research-based techniques to hep coach you to sustain motivation and effort over the long term so you can meet those new-year goals.

R2PCs are located at various Army installations worldwide. You can locate and contact the one closest to you on the Army Resilience Directorate website here.

A Cleveland Clinic article titled “Tips to Keep Your New Year’s Resolution,” states that it’s important to set small, actionable and realistic goals that are well-defined. The article also suggests being flexible and forgiving, which can help you to avoid feeling frustrated if something doesn’t go as planned.

When working toward these goals, it’s important to remember that there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. When embarking on a new project or goal, no matter how much research you’ve done, there may be a point where your knowledge only goes so far.

Resilience in Focus is a series of resilience-building tools and infographics that cover common challenges like how to make stress work for you, becoming more optimistic, cultivating mindfulness or sticking to your goals. These resources can be found on the ARD website here.

Creating goals for the new year can be fun, worthwhile and effective with proper planning and knowledge of what you’re striving to accomplish.