How To Make Resolutions You Can Rock
I have been working on several things lately in preparation for the beginning of 2018! Can you believe it is almost here? Part of it has been to review my year, my goals, my progress, and to figure out how to set myself up for success in the New Year. For some reason, my failed resolution from this year kept staring at me. I want to share why my resolution was terrible to start with and how to make resolutions you can rock and treat 2018 like a boss!
I am sure that most of you can relate to my horrid resolution. Last January, I made the resolution to finally “get healthy”. This was going to be my year and I was going for it! I was really pumped about my resolution and the journey it would take me on. So January started out with a bang. I ate better, I worked out more, I made more time for sleep and drank ridiculous amounts of water.
Then, in April, I noticed I was slacking off a bit. I tried to up my game but it was really hard. By the time June was over, I hadn’t completed a single workout in almost a month. Life had gone haywire and my resolution went right along with it. Now it is December and I am the least healthy I have been in several years. WHAT HAPPENED??
It was vague.
Get healthy seems like a great goal, but what does that even mean? It had no concrete or specific terms. It can mean so many different things like eating better, move more, sleep more, drink water, less soda, less wine, more friends, more self-care…this list can go on and on. I should have taken an hour to sit down and journal out what exactly get healthy means to me and why it is important. Then I should have picked a few areas to focus on.
It wasn’t measurable.
There is no scale or equation for what healthy looks like. There was no way to track my progress and see how I was doing. A resolution needs to have some kind of metrics in place so you know how well you are doing. If my resolution had been to lose 20 pounds, well that is measurable. Drinking my bodyweight in ounces of water is measurable. Climbing all six flights of stairs without being winded is measurable. You have to be able to track your progress. If you can’t track it, how can you know if you met your goal?
It wasn’t broken down into bites.
When you have a resolution, you have to be able to put into small pieces. I’m just going with the losing 20 pounds example for this. While losing that in a year is not unrealistic, how are you going to do that? Your end goal should be 20 pounds but that equals almost 2 pounds per month. So your monthly goal is 2 pounds per month. But how? How exactly are you going to make that happen? What steps are you going to take each month to accomplish this? WRITE THEM OUT! Put them on your calendar.
It was unrealistic.
Setting unrealistic goals almost always ends in defeat. Resolutions and goals are so important, but they can be equally damaging. This part is like walking a tightrope. Too small, and you don’t push yourself and grow, but, too big and you feel like a failure. You have to spend some time in thought and know yourself to set what is right for YOU. Many times unrealistic goals send you into a tailspin of chasing perfection. Perfection DOES NOT exist. We create it in our minds and we spin out of control trying to get there (from a voice who has spent considerable time in the said spin cycle!). Usually at the expense of ourselves and those we love.
Don’t make too many.
I really struggle with change. If you make too many new resolutions, you will scramble to make a little progress in too many areas. Instead, have three or fewer. You can really focus in on these and have good strategies in place to rock your resolutions. Making too many changes at one time is overwhelming. That is why fad diets are, more often than not, unsuccessful. Pick resolutions that matter to you and focus on gradual progress. You will get much better results!
I didn’t share it.
There is something powerful about sharing and speaking your resolutions out loud. It makes them concrete and creates accountability for you. So, I think it is only fair that I share my resolutions with you! I am still working on breaking down into my bite size pieces but here are my resolutions:
- Grow my blog to 250 subscribers
- Lose 25 pounds and get back in my favorite jeans.
- Complete the pilot group for my health and wellness course
The key to successful resolutions is to make them specific, able to be measured, break them down into weekly or monthly pieces, only make a few, and make them attainable. If you will do these things, you will rock your resolutions as well as 2018 like the boss you are!
What are your resolutions and goals for the upcoming year? How are you going to get there? Can I help you break them down? Leave it in the comments below or come on over to the Facebook group! If you know somebody that can use this, please share!
