New Year’s Resolution Survival Guide
If there’s one thing the “New Year - new me” and the manifestation girlies have in common, it’s the ability to plan. If we’re being honest, year after year we struggle to stick to our New Year’s resolutions. Whether it’s time constraints, unexpected changes, or just being slightly unrealistic, the shame of falling short keeps us from even wanting to try. 2023 is not going to be that year, however. This year we’re creating healthy habits that support progress rather than perfection, for the proper manifestation of our New Year’s resolutions and goals. Here’s our unofficial resolution survival guide, taken back to basics.
When we think of previous year’s attempts at resolutions, we stayed consistent until one day, our efforts just died out. As we mentioned, there was often a factor outside of our control that caused us to lose commitment.
Step 1: Create Habits One at a Time
While it’s totally fine to have that list of resolutions, we’re using that more as a to-do list, rather than a script to our new identity. Rather than trying to change everything all at once, look at your list, select the easiest item to incorporate into your life right now, and turn that into a habit. For example, let’s say we want to start walking more. Turning “walking more” into a habit means setting the frequency of how often it is done, and a schedule of when it’s done. “Walking more,” then becomes walking to get Starbies with my best friend every morning. And that leads us to step 2…
Step 2: Share the Journey
Like it or not, talking about our plans and progress on social media, or simply in our social group, adds a certain level of accountability that simply making a list in our journal can’t accomplish. This doesn’t have to be shared in a cringey way; going to friends and asking for an accountability partner, or joining virtual groups that align with goals are simple starts to building in reinforcements for our New Year’s resolutions.
Step 3: Make Everything Aesthetic
This could just be us, but the cuter something is, the more excited we tend to be. From new workout clothes to reusable glass straws to something as simple as a new nail polish, finding items that align with our goals and make us excited adds motivation. This can be as simple as seeing our cute water bottle and being reminded to drink water. Plus, the retail therapy aspect of it couldn’t hurt (unless the goal is to spend less…).
Bottom line is that goals are just dreams with a plan behind them. We’re hacking our limitations and creating habits that lead us down a path of progress for 2023 and beyond.