31
Dec

New Year’s Resolutions

In General

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Whether you are a full blown subscriber to #newyearnewme, or merely looking to shake up your routine, there’s no denying that with each new year comes an opportunity to make changes to your life. But making those changes last the first week, let alone the entire of 2017 comes from having a truly great resolution – here’s how to find yours.

Word by Ben, our Marketing and Communications Crew member.

 

  • Set one big goal

Trying to do too many things means breaking and reforming lots of habits at once. It can lead to burnout and stress, and you’re better off looking for a commonality across all your goals and setting this as the main task. Then, all your resolutions become different ways you might reach the main goal and are much more easily managed. For example, say you’ve chosen the classic ‘get healthier’ resolution. Rather than promising yourself you’ll gym daily, give up fast food, and take up running, you could consider ‘make healthier choices’ the resolution, and the other parts merely stepping stones rather than mandatory, standalone resolutions. This gives you greater flexibility and is less likely to end with a guilt after a Netflix and ice cream binge!

 

  • You’ve got to want it

Don’t make a resolution just because you think that you should. If your resolution, for example, is to find employment for after Uni, but in reality you want to travel or haven’t decided on a career, putting pressure on yourself in the form of a New Years Resolution will only heap on the stress. The new year is a great opportunity to introduce new habits, not to try to change who you are or what you want.

 

  • Ask friends and family – or even buddy up and write each others!

Find a friend you trust and write some resolutions for each other. These can be anything from milestones to reach by 2018, habits that you wish the other person had (or didn’t have), or things you decide to tackle together. Is your friend always late? Do they always forget to pay you back? Now is your chance to help them with a gentle nudge that this year will be different. As a bonus, they can also make sure you’re sticking to them and vice versa.

 

  • Think beyond January

If you try to tackle the whole year in the first week, you’re going to burn out. Instead think about setting resolutions by each month. For example, ‘By February I’m going to be able to run 5k’ and ‘I’ll save money until June to take a trip July.’ This means you have a year to think about your resolutions, rather than feeling that by February you’ve bitten off more than you can chew!

 

  • Write them down and leave them in plain sight

Pin them to a notice board. Staple them to your brother’s head. Make sure that you’ll remember what they are so that when temptation arises to stray, or the opportunity comes to fulfil one, you are more prepared to carry out a resolution.

 

  • Think about last years’ resolutions

Have you set the same resolution 5 years in a row? If so, what went wrong last time? What could you differently about it this time? For all the resolutions you met, how can you get even better this year?

 

  • Have a little fun/treat yo’self

If you want to use 2017 as a clean slate to become the best you ever, then run with it and don’t look back. But don’t forget to set some resolutions that let you have a little fun – keeping these ones will be easier as well as keeping you on track in the long term. If you’ve promised yourself you’ll be better with money next year, resolve to treat yourself every couple of months rather than to cut out bad spending choices. You’ll look forward to it more and it’ll motivate you more.

 

  • There’s always another manic Monday

If you fail within the first few days or weeks, don’t worry. That’s what Mondays are for. Or the start of the new semester. Or the start of February. It’s never to late to revisit your resolutions and commit to restarting them at the next milestone, as long as this doesn’t become a way of putting off starting them. There are loads of opportunities for a fresh start, but none as big as a whole new year. So start as you mean to go on and use these other new beginnings as your shot at upkeep or refocusing on your resolutions.

 

Hopefully, these tips will help you go beyond the hashtag and actually think about what you want to achieve in 2017. Comment and let us know some of your New Year’s resolutions!

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