New Year New You
Happy New Year, Everyone! Well, it’s that time of year again, that is, it’s the beginning of it! And most people are excited at the prospect of starting it off right and making good choices. I know I am.
Countless people make annual resolutions to lose weight, quit smoking or somehow better their lives in some way. And this is a good thing. I know I’ve made conscious New Year’s Resolutions in the past, some of which I was more successful in up keeping and others not so much.
It can be really frustrating when you start with the intention of following something through and midway through the process you lose momentum. It’s completely normal and to be expected. However, we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves for not being able to singlehandedly take on the world’s problems and be finished in a week. We need to set realistic, attainable goals.
What I mean is that sometimes, and I know that I have done this in the past, we try to set a really high bar and when we are not making the gains we want when we want, we give up. Instead, it’s much more effective to aim for a reachable goal, maybe even breaking up our ultimate goal into more digestible segments.
Example. Let’s say your long-term goal is to get a new car. Instead of just setting the arbitrary goal of making the purchase and driving a new car in one week (unrealistic), set a bunch of mini milestones to help you along the way. Don’t worry about the ultimate “deadline” for having the car, start off with giving yourself a week to decide whether it makes more sense for you to get a used or new car. Set a date to have chosen your top picks on a new car. Next plan a specific date to come up with the funds. Set a time to go to different dealerships after discussing your options and making a decision.
If you approach your personal goals this way, the endeavor doesn’t seem so daunting. It’s no longer a matter of doing one huge undertaking in a one-shot deal; instead it’s a few small and easy to manage tasks. This goes for trying to lose weight (setting 5 pound incremented milestones periodically) and any other resolution you may have. To be honest, you can apply this concept to any time of the year. While it’s great that the New Year helps motivate people to accomplishing their goals, there’s no reason to not be able to motivate yourself in June or October.
I met someone who once imparted to me some very inspirational words of wisdom. Simple and straightforward but highly effective, “A new day is a new chance.” How right she was, we can reinvent ourselves everyday! We don’t necessarily need the new year to give us that opportunity, when we have it every time we wake up.
One of my resolutions: to get more blogs out for you guys!
