What to do, what to do. As for me, I will never make another New Year's resolution, ever, again. New Year's resolutions are destined to fail. Here are a few reasons why:
1. We, as a society, have come to expect resolutions to fail. Even before many finish making their resolutions, they are making jokes about how long it will take them to fail. We have accepted that most people will fail trying to achieve the resolutions. Why should you be so surprised when you fail?!
2. Some resolutions are too general. Some resolutions are just that: I will lose weight, I will eat healthier, I will exercise more, I will be more productive at work. It is hard to measure how successful you are at keeping your resolution when you have nothing specific to measure it by.
3. Resolutions have a sense of expecting us to be perfect. For example, let's say you resolve to not drink anymore sodas this next year. You are doing great and then on January 11 you slip up and have a soda. Arrrghh, now that resolution has gone out the window, YOU HAD A SODA! How many of us have given up on a resolution because we messed up one time trying to keep whatever the resolution was.
Instead of resolutions, I set New Year's goals/specific goals. I came up with the idea last year. I was at home celebrating New Year's eve with my family but that didn't last long as the daughter and hubs went to bed before midnight. I actually had time to myself, time to think. I decided to make my resolutions. I didn't want to make resolutions that I would not keep, but I felt it was very important to set goals in my life. How can I ever be successful or get anywhere if I don't have a plan. I also knew a year from now I wanted to look back and see that I had been productive, that I had accomplished some things in the past year.
The next thing I knew I was on Pinterest creating a secret Pinterest board. The pictures I pinned served as inspiration for my goals. Some of my goals were more serious and some were just things I wanted to do in 2014. I went through a lot of my Pinterest boards full of wonderful ideas I had grand plans of doing and actually picked some that I wanted to do. I evaluated different areas of my life and found pins to go along with them. Some goals were more personal so I did not put them on Pinterest.
Here are the things I kept in mind as I made these goals:
1. Make the goals specific. Instead of resolving to "complete some pins on Pinterest" or "be healthier" or "be more organized" I chose specific areas to focus on/complete.
2. Have fun goals and serious goals. Yes, there are areas of my life I need to improve upon, but I want to have fun as well. I want to create things for my house, take some time to complete projects/hobbies I enjoy. In fact, this year I plan on adding things to do with my family.
3. The idea is to complete as many goals or form as many of the desired habits that you can by the end of the year. You have an entire year! This is much more empowering than making a resolution to start doing something January 1only to fail a few days later. It takes about three weeks to form a habit, if not longer. No wonder most resolutions don't make it past January. Notice I also said to complete as many as possible. I know I have been using the term goals, but some of these are more just things I would like to do. I am not setting up myself for failure by demanding that I have to complete all of them by the end of the year.
Was I successful? Yes! No, I did not complete every pin/goal, BUT, I accomplished a whole lot of things I feel I would not have if I had not made it a goal to attempt them last year at this time.Throughout the year, when ever I completed a "pin"/goal, I moved the pin to a new secret board titled "Completed New Years Resolutions." (I am now sharing the board since 2014 is over. Click here to see the board.)While there, I would reflect on all the other pins/goals I had not yet completed and choose another one to work on. Life threw some twists/curveballs, so some goals had to be adjusted. Some projects I said I wanted to complete did not seem as appealing to me as the year went on so I "deleted " them.
As this new year begins, I encourage you to set aside time and create goals/plans you would like to complete this year. I even encourage you to set up a secret Pinterest board to help motivate you and keep track of what you are doing. You just might surprise yourself a year from now!
