Resolutions, Routines and Resilience
Happy New Year! Are you looking forward to 2020? Perhaps you’re one of the millions of people worldwide who made a New Year’s resolution. Or did you choose a word for the new year? Set goals for the new decade? Personally, I don’t make any resolutions on New Year’s Eve. I prefer to set goals at any time throughout the year when I feel they’re needed. No matter when we choose to set goals, either New Year’s Eve or throughout the year, there's always the chance that we won’t keep the promise that we make. Over the next few weeks, I want to share with you what I think is the best way to · make your resolutions/goals · make them stick and · make sure they work for you There’s a lot of information, so I’ve split this post into sections. You’ll notice that I’ve called it the 3 Rs. Not the 3 Rs from school - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. These topics actually start with the letter R – Resolutions, Routines and Resilience. We can chat about Routines and Resilience in the next couple of weeks but today let’s start with Resolutions. Resolution (Noun) A firm decision to do or not do something. Resolutions are always made with the best of intentions. We either want to continue our good habits, do something better or accomplish a personal goal. Or maybe we have certain behaviours that we want to change so we resolve to give something up – yes I’m looking at you …..champagne! Whatever we promise it’s usually something to do with becoming a better version of ourselves. Some of the top resolutions for 2020 are: 1. Exercise more 2. Lose weight 3. Get organised 4. Spend more time with family and friends 5. Travel more Do you relate to any of these? Chances are that a couple of them will look familiar. Too broad These resolutions are very broad. It’s important to be quite specific with your resolutions if you want to be successful. Find some time to get organised for the week ahead. If the goals fit in with your life, then they will be more attainable.
And if you can see that you’re making constant improvements, your confidence will improve! This will make it easier to make progress. Too strict One mistake we can make when setting resolutions is that we are too strict. Have you ever said, “I’ll go to the gym 5 days a week” or “I’m never eating sugar again!” These statements are too ambitious unless you know that you have the time or support systems in place.
Once we have missed one or two visits to the gym or been tempted by the packet of Tim Tams lurking in the back of the fridge, we feel that we’ve failed. Then it’s easy to give up altogether. However, we don’t need to drop our goals completely. We just need to make sure that the goals we’ve planned are achievable. When your “Why” is clear It’s important to know why you have set your goal. Connect your resolution to a purpose and you’ll become clear about why you’re committing to something. This clear vision will also be a motivation when the going gets tough. Try to imagine what your life will look like once you have achieved this goal. Start small What do we need to do to take these resolutions from empty promises to success stories? We should forget about the ‘all or nothing’ way of thinking. By starting small we make sure that our achievements are about progress and not about being perfect. Get the small steps right first, practise them until they become a habit. Lay the foundations so that we can build on that as we go. Be kinder Lately, there has been a push worldwide suggesting that we all resolve to be kinder. It’s a great concept but don't forget that includes being kinder to yourself.
It’s not easy to make positive changes if you beat yourself up each time you think you have made a mistake. Routines Next week we chat about routines. The best way to start, to commit and to stay with it. Plus, rewards. We should be celebrating - all the good work and all the wins. Big and small. I can’t wait for next week but in the meantime let me know if you have any questions. Or if you want to share your way of sticking to resolutions.