We’re officially saying goodbye to 2021 and are ready to ring in the new year. As most of you can probably relate, I’ve had a slew of previously abandoned New Year’s resolutions in past years for many reasons. Although we may have the best intentions to start our resolutions, we often set ourselves up with unrealistic expectations and goals making it difficult to sustain or even start them.
The best way to set ourselves up for success with our resolutions is by starting small and simple.
The less complicated the goals, the more likely we will follow through with them.
The following are my list of goals for ideas on achievable resolutions for 2022:
Stop putting things off:
- Set a date and set up an appointment with yourself for a task you don’t want to do. Put it in on your calendar and treat it like any other appointment to hold yourself accountable.
Stay in Touch:
- These last 2 years have proven that we have so many ways of staying in touch with people we love. There are so many ways we can connect virtually when in-person isn’t available. Try to connect once a week or a couple of times a month with friends and family and set up gatherings when it’s safe to do so to cultivate and nourish important relationships. Schedule monthly friend dates!
Meal Plan Just One Meal
- This is so hard for me! I’m making it a point to at least plan 1 meal 3 times per week. It takes me a while to get into the planning, and the routine of meal planning so starting small with just 3 meals a week should help jump-start it. In my case, planning for dinner makes the most sense so I’ll try to make things as easy as possible to be able to make this achievable.
Laundry to completion on the same day!
- Why is this so difficult?! “The farthest distance is from the laundry basket to your closet” that’s why! Don’t fall into the trap of folding it and leaving it for days without putting it away, or not even folding it, to begin with! (guilty) Start with little hacks like sorting your laundry by where they’re going so that when you get a load out and fold, it’s all going to the same place. It makes it SOOOOO much easier and doable!
Get organized!
- If you’re like me and don’t know where to start play some amazing music and attack one room or section at a time. That will get the ball rolling. If you’re really struggling on starting, hire help or bring in a friend to push you to stay on task and focus. Once you’ve done the initial setup, the maintenance is easy to upkeep if you check in with yourself frequently before it goes off the rails again.
Walk a mile a day!
- The real goal is to be more active as often as is really feasible. If you can take a long way or the stairs do it! That will increase your activity without really putting a dent in your schedule if you’re not ready yet.
Set yourself up with small attainable activity goals at first and we can gradually increase activity as we go.
Physical activity generally makes you happier, less anxious, and generally healthier.
Try New Things!
- Stepping out of your comfort zone can really open your horizons. Once a month try something new. Could be a new place, a new food, a new experience, a recipe, or a physical activity.
Set up resolutions involving your partner or a friend.
- For example, a couple of years ago my husband and I decided to gift each other experiences versus material items and now we only go on trips or plan some fun new experience or activity and it’s been awesome. We’ve gotten so much more out of these gifts than anything before.
Drink more water!
- I suck at this! Will strive to do better with this. 2022, I see a lot more pee breaks in your future because I fully intend on upping my H2O intake! Again, starting small facilitates achieving this goal.
Starting by having a glass of water as soon as we wake up and then before meals make a huge impact! if you find something cool and practical to lug around your water it serves as a motivator.
Read more!
- This is one I’ve been on point with this year. (maybe even too much) Great way to reduce social media scrolling and feed your brain Joining a book club can be fun to discuss the books, share ideas and meet new people as well.
Keep a Journal
- I’d like to say keep a daily journal but even a few times a week can really help with reflection, mindfulness, keeping yourself accountable, focusing on the highlights of your day, and remaining grateful. Could just be a great way to keep track of your thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
Change/move things around
- Freshen up your spaces. Both personal and professional. It’s refreshing to be able to paint a wall, move or swap furniture, invest in new decor. Simple changes can make a great positive impact.
Keep my car clean!
- OMG! This is such a hard one for me. I could blame my toddlers but realistically it’s been a struggle since before they brought cheerios and French fries to live in their car seats. However, I will strive to improve this with scheduled maintenance appointments because it really does make me feel so much better once my car is neat and organized and further motivates me to maintain its tidiness.
Make Your Bed Everyday!
- This is easy to achieve and also easy to fall off the wagon. It’s such a small thing that makes such a great impact. Like the car thing, your bedroom and home are reflections of yourself. If you feel good about what you’re surrounding yourself with, you’ll feel good about yourself. Making your bed in the morning also sets the tone for the rest of the day. And, it just takes a couple of minutes to jumpstart to a productive day.
Get outside!
- Getting to experience fresh air and nature also elevates our moods and intentions for the day. When we surround ourselves with natural beauty, it makes us appreciate where we are and motivates us to have a good day. Take it in.
Setting ourselves up with small and simple achievable goals means our follow-through resolution success rate significantly increases! Go take down 2022! One task and one day at a time.
“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the years’.” – Henry Moore
Stay healthy my friends!
Love Always,
Nikki
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Resolutions: So many will fail; NOT because they didn’t set goals, but because they didn’t set behaviors. – Steve Maraboli
