Can y’all believe the year is almost over!? I mean I know we haven’t hit Christmas yet, but those New Year’s Resolutions are just around the corner. I promised myself this year that I would actually put some deep thought into changes I need, and prepare before the year starts. So, here I am. I am proud that I actually fulfilled the commitment I made to myself this past January. Guess that means I sort of followed through with my resolutions this past year.
I am really good at making awesome resolutions, committing hardcore for a few weeks, and then losing steam and everything falls by the wayside. Do any of y’all feel this way? Right around the end of February the excitement and commitment just fizzles out. Resolutions are like relationships, you have to work for them. You have to check in with them. I have made every excuse in the book as to why I can’t do something or haven’t completed something. One of my greatest skills in life is finding ways to justify ANYTHING. Even behavior or things I don’t believe to be favorable. Which leads me to believe that some of the biggest problems with creating these resolutions are detail and accountability.
Habits Are Easy to Make & Hard to Break
The old saying “Habits are easy to make and hard to break” is not entirely true. Yes, we get set in our routines and ways, so certain things are hard to break, but what about new habits? BAD habits are the ones that are easy to make. Positive and life changing habits are the ones that take more effort and time.
I am sure you have read or heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. That’s a crock, and science agrees with me! In trying to figure out how long it actually takes to form a habit, University College of London’s health psychology researcher, Phillippa Lally, found it took an average of 66 days. 66 freaking days! In the study it took individuals anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form the habit they choose. That being said, you SHOULD NOT feel so shitty when you fall off of the wagon after a few days, a couple of weeks, or even months! 254 days!!! Hell that’s damn near a year.
How can you create positive habits? Welp, I’ve learned about a great acronym throughout my career and schooling: the S.M.A.R.T. Goals system.
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Time-Based
Specific
This is pretty much straight forward. The devil is in the details. Do you want to lose weight? Yes? Okay, then break that down. How much weight do you want to lose? 25 pounds? Break it down even farther. I want to loose 25 pounds this year. To achieve that I am going to lose 5 pounds in January (and so on). Then break it down even farther. How are you going to lose that 5 pounds? What diet habits are you going to make? What exercise habits are you going to begin? What has prevented you in the past from losing weight if that was a previous resolution? You must be honest with yourself. Remember, you are making these resolutions for YOU and NO ONE else!
Here’s another one I have told myself. This year I am going to be more organized. Well Kristin, how in the hell are you going to be more organized this year? Are you going to eliminate clutter in your life? Are you going to pick a project each month? In getting more detailed you could start with a simple calendar in January, then begin meal planning in February, hit it hard with the spring cleaning in March….. But you need to have a detailed plan.
Measurable
You NEED to be able to measure these goals. This is one of the contributing factors to staying on that figurative wagon. If you can’t see progress, then how are you going to continue progressing? Document your journey. If you want to lose weight keep a journal or even a simple note in your iPhone. If you want to be more organized make a list. When you start checking off your accomplishments it will make you feel great, and you will want to check even more off!
Achievable
Your goals should be something you can achieve. You want to be inspired and motivated to do better. You don’t want to be discouraged. You really need to dig deep. “Is this something I can achieve in the timeframe I have set?” Are you going to have to make any new habits? Do you have what you need for the goals? I’ll decide I am going to do all of these things, and then realize “oh shit I don’t even what I need to do this!” Does this mean you shouldn’t reach for big goals? No! Of course you can have a major goal. You just need to make sure you break it down into bite size pieces.
Realistic
The ‘R’ in S.M.A.R.T. Goals can stand for a variety of ideas, relevance, realistic, and rewarding. I believe in personal development realistic is the most important ‘R’ to focus on. Realistic and Achievable have concepts that are certainly interchangeable. Is the goal meaningful? Do you have time to achieve this goal? Remember, your resolutions need to be a priority in conjunction with other priorities in your life. If these things conflict with one another, then you need to re-prioritize or change up your goals.
Time-Based
I cannot stress the importance of this enough! Your goals should be time-based. Now if you fall a little off track don’t beat yourself up and think ”Damn, guess I can’t achieve this because I missed it by a day or two or a week.” You should ask yourself when do you hope to achieve your goal, and like I stated earlier, break it down into smaller time-based goals. Set up what you are going to do each week, each month, by month three, and then month 6… Time can really get away from you when it comes to the day to day things of life. This is why it is so important to make lists, set dates, and then set reminders. If you take 10-20 minutes out of your week to map out what you need to do to accomplish your resolutions you are more likely to stay on track.
Accountability
You’ve set your goals now what? Jump on that accountability train. Have someone help you: a close friend, a sibling, a spouse, a parent… Just don’t get upset when they try to hold you to it. I can’t count the number of times I have gotten pissed off at my husband for calling me out on some shit I told him to call me out on. I know I sound like an asshole for it, but that’s something I definitely need to work on. Just remember accountability is what you need to accomplish your goals!
I can’t believe 2019 is right around the corner! I’ll check in with y’all when I finalize my list. I want to share my resolutions to help maintain accountability. Looks like y’all can be my accountability buddies. How have you held yourself to your goals? What do you want to accomplish this year?
XOXO,
Country Mama
