Abandon making New Year’s resolutions this year and get better results for your life goals doing it this way instead.
I swear, I haven’t made New Year’s resolutions for years. Perhaps in my 20’s or early 30’s I might’ve said I wanted to drink less alcohol and get more fit but that’s about it.
It’s probably been a couple years now that I’ve been doing this and getting the results I want. Here’s what I do now.
Review the year that was
You probably see and hear a lot of people sharing on social media or telling you about their review of the year that was.
There are a few reasons to do this. One is to identify what worked and went well to congratulate yourself and, two, what didn’t go so well for you.
I know we can start out a new year with great intentions of losing a few pounds, getting fitter, saving money etc etc but these are goals that you can set at any time of the year not just for New Year’s resolutions.
Don’t spend too much time worrying about what didn’t go so well. This should make you more hungry for a better result this coming year.
Make setting New Year’s resolutions a simple process
You don’t have to tear apart every day of the year that was nor do you have to analyse your thoughts, the reasons why things didn’t work out the way you would’ve liked or even who’s fault it was. (It’s always someone else’s fault, right?)
It always feels better for me when I can put the blame onto someone or something that has stopped me from achieving my goals. We are in total control of our own thoughts and our actions.
Sure, there are always outside influences like children (of any change), work or no work, money or not enough of it etc etc. How we react to these set backs will ultimately affect the outcome of the goals we set ourselves. It is up to us to overcome these hurdles.
Don’t set high expectations
If you start the year off with, I want to:
- lose weight
- get fit
- join a gym
- run a marathon
- save money
- travel more
- find another job
- quit work
- move to the country
- etc etc
you’re going to be setting yourself up for failure pretty much from the start. If you set yourself really high expectations of achieving a whole bunch of goals, you’ll become overwhelmed with the actual steps of what you’re going to need to do to achieve these goals.
Start off with one goal and implement daily habits to try and achieve the goal. If that’s to save money, redo your household budget and work out where you can cut back on spending and start a saving plan.
If it’s to quit work and find another job, start looking at the job ads. Set up an email notification to go to your Inbox with specific attributes of the ideal job you’re looking for.
If you’re looking at getting fitter this year or eating healthier foods, look at hiring a Personal Trainer who specialises in working with mothers with children. Someone who has experience in this area.
Be grateful for what you have right now
Something amazing has been working for me all of my life which has allowed me to live the rich life I currently live. It’s because I’ve always been able to show gratitude for what I have.
A lot of people call this the Law of Attraction. When you express gratitude for what you have and are positive about the life you have, more of that will happen in your life.
If you want more money and you express gratitude for the money you have, you will never run out of money.
If you want to get fit, express gratitude for your body and how it has carried you through yet another busy day. Naturally, you will attract more ways of getting fitter.
For the last 3 years, I have been recording what I’ve been grateful for in my Gratitude Diary. Even on my hardest days, I can still find something to be grateful for. Even if it’s the air that I breathe, the roof over my head, the food on the table or the clothes on my back, I still write it in my Gratitude diary.
Conclusion – Abandon New Year’s Resolutions
So this year, when you’re thinking about the areas of your life that you’d like to improve, right those goals down. Whether that’s in a diary, in your phone, on the fridge or on a white board. Then practice being grateful for the life you do have to attract more of those changes you want to see in your life.
Whether you call them a New Year’s resolution, a goal or something you want to achieve, be grateful for what you have to attract more of that.
