Are you sticking to your New Year’s Resolutions?
Its officially 2020. The butterflies from entering a new decade are finally starting to settle as we begin to get back into our usual routine. But, there’s one question I’d encourage everyone to ask themselves: Are you sticking to the promises that you made to yourself on December 31st 2019?
The beginning of the year is a time where people often try to better themselves. Whether that be by buying a gym membership (that most people end up forgetting about), or maybe by getting that hair cut that they’ve always wanted. But how much longevity comes from these sudden bursts of inspiration? Attempting to better yourself can only ever be a positive thing, but there are strategies that have to be adopted if there is any chance of actually achieving what has been set out. I am by no means an expert, but here are some tips that I have come up with that I hope might be of some help!
Make realistic goals for yourself. Don’t tell yourself that you’re all of a sudden going to become an Astronaut in the new year. Its a lovely idea but the likelihood of you actually being able to achieve that is very very small. And this is not to say don’t be ambitious, if you can envision yourself as an astronaut then by all means i’m sure you can do whatever you set your mind to. But, maybe baby steps first? The simpler the goal is, the easier it’ll be to achieve. For example, if you’re someone that’s terribly organised like me, I promised myself that I would hand all of my essays in on time this year (so far, so good). Just because its a simple goal doesn’t necessarily mean that its easy as well. For example, making deadlines on time required me to improve my time management, planning and organisation skills. So what appeared to be a very simple goal at first required me to make dramatic changes to the ways that I approached my education.
Make goals that are measurable. This is one of the easiest ways to keep track of your achievements. For example, if you’re a writer you might push yourself to write a specific number of times a week. Specificity will make it easier to see how well you are progressing. It also means that if you aren’t getting to the point that you have challenged yourself to get to you can see exactly where you are lacking and come up with strategies to help you overcome the barriers you identify.
Hold yourself accountable. It is so easy to neglect the goals that we have set for ourselves, especially considering that the stakes aren’t really that high. After all, if you don’t achieve what you want to it is only yourself that you have to blame. That’s why I’m such a believer in verbalising what you want to achieve. Say your goals out loud to yourself, your neighbour, your cat, anyone that’ll listen. It may sound a bit hippy dippy, but I genuinely believe that it helps with the manifestation process when you put it out into the universe. And in a more realistic sense, the more people you tell the more likely you will be to take steps towards your goal because you know they’ll be watching and holding you accountable as well.
Change your goals if they’re not working for you. People change, ambition changes, its okay. The worst feeling in the world is finally achieving a goal and then realising that its not actually what you want. There are no mistakes on the road to self betterment, only alternative routes so don’t be disheartened if you change your mind. Just make sure that you don’t completely give up. If you drop a goal, make sure that you have another one in place read to be achieved so that you don’t get to a position where you become stagnant.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. This is something that I am definitely trying to improve on within my own life. It is so so so much harder to achieve anything if you do not have a supportive system in place. Put pride aside and allow people to help you if you are struggling. You never know, there could be someone in exactly the same position as you.
And finally, don’t be too hard on yourself if you haven’t changed the world yet. Its January 18th – there’s still time. The start of the year is a great opportunity to develop yourself, but its never too late! You can start today, tomorrow, whenever, just make sure that you do!
I hope this was helpful and I’ll see you in the next one xoxo
