Every January, we ring in the New Year with joy and energy for a fresh start. We all adopt the classic "New Year, New Me" mindset, and make lists of resolutions we tell everyone we plan to keep...
But lets be honest— most of these resolutions go down the drain faster than your New Years champagne. So what is the magic key to keeping your word? How do you really become a "new me" in the New Year?
1. Make A Daily List
A habit I adopted a long time ago was making a daily To-Do list. Every morning, I would create a list of things I had to accomplish that day.
By making this list, I knew what my goals for the day were, everyday, and I was able to decide how to divide my time throughout the day to get tasks done. If you add a resolution or two to your daily list, like 'go to the gym', you physically make time to do it, and get to enjoy striking it off your list!
Pro-Tip: Divide work or school related items from lifestyle items to make it easier to organize.
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2. Tell Your Friends!
When I started university, I was kind of happy that I had the choice if I wanted to go to class or not, unlike the rigid high school schedule I was used to. What I didn't realize was that my wonderful friends had my class schedule and bugged me to always go to my classes, even if I didn't want to...
When you tell your friends or family about your plans, you're more likely to complete them. If you share your New Years Resolutions with your friends, they're more likely to ask about them in turn, reminding you what they are, and that you should be completing them. This motivation could make you more likely to step up your game!
Pro-Tip: Tell your mom, because moms never forget.
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3. Post About It
Come the New Year, I'm sure everyone's newsfeed is filled with the same kind of posts about healthy eating, going to the gym, and other various adopted New Years habits. Although you may never want to see another post like this again, there is a method to their madness.
When you make a habit of posting about something, it becomes routine, and both you and your followers notice when you don't post. By throwing your plans our into the inter-web, they'll follow you everywhere... hopefully motivating you along the way.
4. Get A Buddy
Let's get real, everything is more fun when you have a friend. No one ever has motivation to do boring things on their own, and its hard to keep this motivation for new habits if no one is there pushing you.
An easy fix to this is to grab a friend and make a resolution together. By doing so you can keep each other on track and encourage each other when times get tough and giving up seems to be like the best option.
5. Track it
If a list wasn't helpful enough, or if a daily To-Do just isn't your thing, have no fear because I am the organization QUEEN, and have more ideas for you.
If you make a monthly calendar, commonly known in bullet journaling as a 'habit tracker', you can identify which days of the month you actually completed your goals, and which days you skipped. After the month is over, you're able to see how well you did in actually keeping up your resolutions, and you can learn how to better improve your stats for the next month!
Pro-Tip: Make it your own by adding fun colours or stickers, so you're more likely to want to add to it, and keep up with your tracking!
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So whether you've already broken your resolution or not, you no longer have any excuses to break them (again) before the year is up...
Didn't make one yet? No worries, just grab a buddy and make sure you read all of our "Spoon University" articles this year... I promise you'll regret it way less than that New Years Eve party... sorry mom.