It’s coming up to the New Year, which means a lot of you are making New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. That’s not to say I don’t believe in goals and trying to better your life. I just don’t believe in waiting for the New Year to try living a better life, instead, I do things every day that changes my life for the better (and, um, sometimes not for the better. But, those stories may eventually find their way into the musings section, or most probably, never let out into the public).
I love making goals. I make goals every single day. They’re called lists of to-do’s and they’re my everyday goals. Every morning, once I arrive at work, I make a list of everything I need to do at work (goals to hit), what I need to do at home and what I need to do for my blog. Oftentimes, the goals for my blog is just to engage in comments and post on social media. That’s okay! That’s a goal! Without trying to get that done, a lot of what I do would be pointless.
I change things when I feel inspired. Often, I’ll get this really big surge of energy and feel really great about everything in my life. I feel like things are happening and I need to continue with my goals in order to keep getting that happy energetic things-in-life-are-perfect feeling. So I make new goals. I make bigger goals! I make small goals that can be easily attainable to give me that instant satisfaction and make me push and work harder at the big goals.
I read through my old goals and adjust accordingly. Just making a goal and writing it down isn’t going to do shit. You have to go back and read it and work at it and adjust and tweak and update as needed. Because things in life change. My first goal for social media was to get to 500 followers. That felt really, really cool. But, I’ve surpassed that number. How silly would it be for me to look back on that goal a year from now (gearing up for the next New Year New Me) and change it, then? I’ve already hit that goal and I could be striving for more, but instead, I let it sit and I kept going, ignoring the fact that I’ve already hit my goal and needed to reach for more of those stars. Read them often, adjust accordingly.
Looking at your goals makes you feel better. Seriously. I look at them too much. I update weekly and usually it makes me feel great, sometimes it doesn’t. Because, sometimes, there’s no growth. And, that’s okay. But, other times there will be huge growth and you’ll feel the difference and feel like you’re accomplishing so much and it’ll feel like your brain is going to explode with happiness. And, that’s a pretty cool feeling.
The biggest New Years Resolution people are obsessed with making? Weight loss. And, I get it. It’s a fresh year so why not a fresh start? But, if you had started this goal five months ago, you wouldn’t be signing up for gym memberships you’ll never use come March. You’ll be already in the thick of it.
Break it down into smaller goals. Like eating less junk food. Now, you’re eating fruit as a snack. Now, you’re going for daily walks. Now, you’re lifting 200 lbs…you get it. Well, maybe not that 200 lbs thing. Break it down and feel great. Apply this to every goal in your life. Just like my goal was to post once a week on the blog, that’s changed to twice weekly with additional musings or recipes! And, I’m sure that will change down the road. Change it when you’re ready for that next step, not when the year ends. Waiting on New Years to start your goals is just a cop out when you could be making little changes (or big!) that will have already started to take effect.
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