New Years’ Resolutions How-to

A new year gives us all the oppor­tu­nity to make changes in our lives. How­ever, so often Jan­u­ary 1 comes, and we are no bet­ter off than we were last year (with lit­tle to no resolve to make things bet­ter).
Every year I make New Year’s res­o­lu­tions, and I am ded­i­cated to mak­ing them come true in the 12 months allot­ted. Some­times I make it; some­times I don’t. How­ever, I believe that it’s always worth try­ing.
You can make New Year’s res­o­lu­tions that not only stick, but are attain­able. Here are seven steps to turn this year into your best year yet.

1. Think About Last Year
Reflect­ing on the mis­takes and mishaps of last year is a good place to start when mak­ing New Year’s res­o­lu­tions. Where could you have done bet­ter? What do you want to see change? No need to be down on your­self. Just take a look at your weak points and see what you can do about them this year.

2. Write It Down
There’s some­thing to the act of putting pen to paper (or fin­ger to key­pad). It takes it from being just an idea to being real. It’s not out in the uni­verse until it’s down on paper.
There are a lot of ways to do this. You can use a plan­ner or a cal­en­dar. You can type it out on your lap­top or write it down on a piece of paper. Just make sure it’s writ­ten and in a place where you can see it and refer to it often.

3. Don’t Try to Do It All in Jan­u­ary
Poor, poor Jan­u­ary. We pin all our hopes on those first 31 days. We cram a laun­dry list of goals into one month and try to make them all hap­pen at break­neck speed. Inevitably, by Feb­ru­ary we are burnt out, and by the sum­mer, our res­o­lu­tions are long for­got­ten.
Let’s give Jan­u­ary a break, shall we? If your goals are worth attain­ing, they will take time – much more than a mere month can offer. Plus the effort and energy it will take to accom­plish those res­o­lu­tions is too much to do all at once. Space them out.

4. From Big Goals to Baby Steps
It’s easy to look at the moun­tain, decide it’s too big to climb, and crawl back into bed.
Break big goals down into smaller incre­ments. For exam­ple, if you’re writ­ing a novel, author Karen Kings­bury once told me that if you wrote six pages every day, you’d have your book fin­ished in a year. That is a fea­si­ble daily task that will accom­plish a larger goal in time.

5. Get a Lit­tle Help from Your Friends
Chances are, if your dreams are big like los­ing weight or run­ning a marathon, you’ll need a lit­tle help from your friends. Reach out and ask for the sup­port you need. It can be a bond­ing expe­ri­ence you’ll never forget.

6. Iden­tify Time-Wasters
A lot of great tasks in life don’t get fin­ished, because we waste a lot of time doing things that are unim­por­tant or unre­lated to our goals. Think about all the time you spend on social net­work­ing Web sites or those two hours in front of the tele­vi­sion every night. Wouldn’t that time be bet­ter spent work­ing towards your res­o­lu­tions?
We so read­ily say, “Oh, I just don’t have time.” The truth is that you can make time. Iden­tify the time-wasters in your day and replace them with projects and tasks that will bring you closer to your goal.

7. Some­times a Year is Not Enough
As the year draws to a close, take some time to reflect on the res­o­lu­tions you made in Jan­u­ary. How did you do? Did you work hard? Did you make the dead­lines or do you need another year?
Give your­self some grace. You’ve laid the ground work to achiev­ing your dreams, and you can take the next year to per­fect them. Learn from the pre­vi­ous year’s mis­takes and grow. Every year is another chance to get it right.

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