Wouldn’t it be great if you got a gold medal and a parade each time you made the next best decision in the journey toward your goals?

You may have reached your goals before and feel confident that you can reach your goal of cutting back on your drinking now. Sky is the limit!

Learning a few skills is the key to staying motivated as you change your relationship with alcohol. Don't just rely on willpower to keep you on track during this incredible journey.

Making the decision to cut back on drinking is powerful. Having a plan in place can make this change in perspective easier. Here are some tips to stay on track and motivated.

Set detailed goals

Success is in the details. Make your cut-back-on-drinking goal specific and realistic. Take inventory of how much you are currently drinking. A few too many at happy hours or while alone playing video games? You need to be able to gauge progress and measure your success. Maybe you want to just have 14 or fewer drinks this week.

Understand your motivations

You may want to cut back on drinking to lose weight, have more clarity or feel a greater sense of freedom. A clear reason can help you stay on track when drinking less alcohol. Any reason is a great reason to reduce your drinking.

Consider what you will miss

As with any journey, there will be a few things that need to be given up in order to ensure crystal-clear focus.

Maybe your colleagues love nothing more than hitting happy hour every Friday. Suggest a new location that has amazing appetizers so you can keep the focus on food, not your new drink limit.

You might miss being part of the group or feel like people are noticing. If your friend group is full of hardcore drinkers, you may need to send out a few invitations for new activities like rock climbing or coffee in the group chat.

Make your intentions known

You may be surprised how many people will support you as you cut back on drinking - or even join you. A friend may not be able to drink heavily because of acid reflux, a round of antibiotics or training for something like a marathon.

They may be looking for someone who is also aiming to drink less alcohol with them. Letting other people know your intentions makes you more likely to stick to your goals. A few may even celebrate all your new milestones.

Beat your triggers

The key to beating your triggers is knowing what they are. You may have a craving for alcohol when dealing with certain people, visiting a particular place or at a specific time of day. Every trigger is personal.

Changing your behavior to fit your lifestyle requires trigger awareness. Breaking associations is important. If you come home from work every day and fix yourself a cocktail, you may want to drive straight to the park to go for a walk instead. You and your best friend can get a blowout for a girls' day out instead of going to a wine bar.

Check in on your feelings

Feeling good and clearer thinking are stellar reasons to keep cutting back. For the first time in years, you may be able to sleep through the night, making your days more productive. Maybe your skin is glowing again, and you are having deeper conversations.

Celebrate hitting your goals

You can be your biggest cheerleader. You can encourage your own progress while reaching every milestone. Praise is richly deserved when you rock small, daily activities. If you are saving money by cutting back on drinking, treat yourself to something you will enjoy. This could be a nice dinner or investing it.

Reframe your relationship with alcohol

Cutting back on your drinking can have a number of benefits for your health, including weight loss, improved sleep, and reduced stress levels. Reframe will help you to cut back on your alcohol consumption by keeping track of how much you drink and helping you set goals for yourself.