Ahhhh, the elusive New Year’s resolution. We get so pumped at the start of the year–we are so hopeful! Unfortunately, statistics show that about 88% of people who make a resolution fail to reach their goals. But don’t worry, I’m going to lay out how to avoid being on the bummer side of that statistic!
Throughout December I’m going to share what resolutions you shouldn’t make and which ones you should make instead.
Want a sneak peek at what resolutions not to make? Check out what we’ll talk about in this final month of 2016:
- Be more positive
- Enjoy life to the fullest
- Spend more time with family
- Manage stress better
- Improve your relationships
- Travel more
- Stop procrastinating
- Lose weight
Yup! I’m going to go over every single one of those pesky failure traps this month. For this week, though, we’ll cover just the first two:
New Year’s resolution don’t: Be more positive
New Year’s resolution do: Mind your mind daily.
Setting an arbitrary resolution to be “more” positive is simply immeasurable. Emotions and responsiveness to life can vary from day to day, so what is more positive on one day could vary greatly from another.
Instead, you should resolve to mind your mind daily. If you want to achieve your greatness, you can’t allow just any willy nilly thought take up residence in your mind.
Feed yourself with edifying words. You can read motivational, personal or professional development books, spiritual books, listen to inspiring podcasts or watch uplifting videos online. Fill up your head space with positive thoughts, and you won’t have room for the negativity.
The best way to mind your mind daily, however, is to spend time with yourself…alone…in the quiet. It’s possible even for those with monkey mind. This can be done through meditation, prayer or even yoga. When you intentionally quiet your mind, it teaches you self-awareness; and if you are self-aware, you will be more equipped to actually follow through with your resolutions.
New Year’s resolution don’t: Enjoy life to the fullest
New Year’s resolution do:: Choose gratitude daily.
Enjoying life to the fullest may seem like a noble resolution, but there are likely behaviors that have kept you from living life to the fullest, thus far.
Instead, resolve to choose gratitude daily. Then replace the negative habits with positive ones and watch it snowball from there.
When you are grateful, you stop comparing. Yet when you are all up in your neighbor’s business you lose site of all that’s right with your own life.
You are enough. You have enough. Remind yourself of that daily, count your own blessings and just see how fully your life can be lived.
What are your New Year’s resolutions?
What do you think? Are my suggested resolutions an improvement to the standards? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Stay tuned throughout the month of December to find out more alternative resolutions you may wish to make. In the meantime, enroll in Glamour Goals to allow me to lead you through the simple, yet effective steps to creating bold goals that attract success in 2017.