I hope you all had a great Christmas. I sure did. It was great being with all of our family. Christmas always seems like such a whirlwind; moving so fast and then poof, it’s already over.

Although I love Christmas and all, I am ready to start focusing on planning the new year, and my resolutions. Yes, Christmas is great, but my favorite holiday of the year is actually New Year’s. I will elaborate more on that in an upcoming blog post.

So let’s start thinking about what we want in the new year. Goals, intentions, a focus or focus word, resolutions…you get the idea. Being someone who is a nut over fresh starts, I want to approach this new year a little different than in past years. Let me explain…

In past years, I have made new year’s resolutions usually the week directly after Christmas(ok, like the day after Christmas), but then narrowed them down on New Year’s Eve and written them out again. I always wait until January 1 to start my resolutions. And my resolutions are always very lofty and difficult to ever meet. This then results in falling of the wagon a few days in, or a few weeks in. Then I have to wait until the New Year to make new ones and start over. (I know…it seems crazy but this is how my mind naturally works. I am a perfectionist and give up if things aren’t perfectly done). While this is how my mind naturally works, I want to stretch my mind to give myself a little more grace and change this mindset of what I want to do in life, not just in resolutions.

Instead of all or nothing resolution actions, I want to change how I think about them; change my mindset. Here are a few questions to get started asking yourself if you too want to change your mindset to make lasting changes or just to reflect on the past year:
1. First, why are resolution actions either all or nothing?
2. Why do I have to wait until January 1 of each perspective year?
3. Why do I set high lofty goals I am not very likely to meet?
4. What can I do to ensure I set and can meet reasonable goals or resolutions?

New mindset actions and thoughts:
1. Set small daily goals that are very attainable that over time will build into large accomplishments. Don’t set unattainable goals.
2. When I am tempted to think, “I can’t do this. I give up”. Change my thoughts and mindset to be: “I don’t want to do this and it seems I will never accomplish this goal. How can I modify the goal into smaller pieces so that I can still work toward accomplishing the big overall goal?”
3. When creating resolutions, set the big main goal (the end goal) and then list the steps to get there that will be your small bite size goals you will work on everyday. In other words, chip away at your goals every day.
4. Tell yourself it is ok to feel like I can’t accomplish it, but then retell yourself that the goal you have set is very attainable.
5. Remind myself that if I don’t just start, I will never accomplish it. Just start.
6. I don’t need to wait for New Year’s to set resolutions. I can set them any day of the year. Every day if I like.

I hope this helps you with your new year’s resolutions this year!!

Libby