Reflecting on my Resolutions

When 2019 came around, I along with many other people began to think about new year’s resolutions. Every January, I reflect on my past year and try and implement goals to achieve in the upcoming 365 days to come. Some of us have the willpower to succeed yet unfortunately for myself, I either get too overwhelmed, am distracted from my focus, or give up. I mean, let’s be honest – a year is a ridiculously long time to set so many goals to accomplish.
I started to recognize that I was becoming too busy focusing on how much I’d like to do these things without actively working toward accomplishing them. That is until this past January when I started an activity that has been helping me better focus on my goals.

This activity is a great way to take those goals you’ve been neglecting and break them into smaller segments to overall help you achieve what you desire.
There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Simply grab a piece of paper, write down the month and then let your mind flow. Remember that these are meant to be small treks to a bigger accomplishment, so be realistic when you’re brainstorming. Get as creative with this as you like!
I’m going to share with you some of my current goals and strides since January in hopes to inspire some of you to engage in this activity.

January:

-read everyday
-work on being kinder to others (including your thoughts)
-put away Christmas decorations
-wake up early, get enough sleep
-bring cats to the vet
-write more

Some of these things I listed are work-in-progress goals, some are simply things I just needed to do. As I continue to list things, notice that some repeating goals began to dig deeper in order to be more practical to accomplish.

February:

-do your yoga/meditation
-go out less, budget more
-go to the gym
-read every day
-write more poems


March:

-sign up for summer classes
-wake up at 9 every morning
-go to the gym 2-3 times a week
-do yoga/meditation 3 times a week
-read before bed every night



April:

-try to read 3 days a week
-go to the gym at least 2 times a week
-wake up by 9:30-10 every morning
-talk less, listen more
-do taxes

The reasoning for the repeating bullet points is because I didn’t accomplish something the month before. For example, I would like to get in the habit of waking up around 9 am every day yet that takes bodily routine so this month I am shooting for between 9:30-10. Some of these don’t have an overarching main goal but to stay happy and healthy by actively engaging in activities I enjoy.

Next step is to put up your piece of paper somewhere that you will constantly see it. I keep a space on my wall above my desk free for this. That way, every time I sit down to work on something, I see it right in front of me and am reminded of my goals as well as accomplishments.

Having this month to month break down has been beneficial for me so far. It helps keeps me focused on achieving the things I want and need to do as well as seeing the progress I have made. I am going to continue to engage in this within the next eight months and hope that I’ll be able to sit back and reflect on all the things I did to better myself this year.

Why make things complicated when they don’t have to be? Join me by engaging in this 5-10 minute long activity and watch your months and years change drastically before your eyes. It’s said that we are more likely to continue our success once we see progress made. I believe that smaller successes can motivate us into an even greater, fulfilling life. Once we set our goals out in front of us there is nothing left to stop us but our own self-doubt and will. Believe in yourself, and you’ll be able to cross everything off your lists. I can assure you that it feels just as great crossing things off your list as it does know that you did the damn thing.

- Harmony B.