Here we are again, the beginning of a new year. However, this time it is also the beginning of a new decade. As I look back on the last ten years of my life, I am so thankful for all of the wonderful people around me and I am thankful for all the achievements I have accomplished. While many of them were planned, there were a few achievements that I stumbled upon. Looking into the New Year, the next decade, I am excited to see what lies ahead on the road I will walk along.
A few years ago, one of my yoga instructors opened my eyes on the best way to determine your new year’s resolution and how to keep it. First you need to make the goal very specific. Becoming more flexible or losing weight is a very broad goal that takes a lot of time and effort to see results. They told me to be more specific when determining my resolution and say “I am going to go to yoga 3 times a week” or “I am going to go for a run 3 times a week before work”.
Once you are more specific, then you can work on achieving this goal. Each week that you follow through with the goal you say ”Good job!” and start again the next week. When you run into a week that you weren’t able to reach the goal, don’t beat yourself up or come up with excuses. Tell yourself “its okay let's try again this week.”
They said when you are specific with your goals you will be able to hold yourself accountable, forgive yourself when you fail, as well as prove to yourself you can do it.
Over time I was able to work in more yoga into my life and becoming more flexible was a positive side effect. For me, the reason this process was so successful is because I was able to make many small achievements, and each time I accomplished the goal it sparked a new sense of fulfillment. It also challenged me to work more yoga into my traveling schedule. I used to only do yoga or workout when I was home, but when I started this challenge I had to find ways to either attend a class while traveling or push myself to perform my own flow/workout in the hotel gym.
Typically, I am not one for making new years resolutions. When my instructor explained setting a new year’s resolution in that way, I did set a resolution that year and by the end of the year I had achieved my ultimate goal. The reason I believe this outlook on achieving your resolution works so well is because it focused on changing something in your daily habits, but it did not have to be a habit that was done every single day. It started off by changing my habits on a few days of the week, and as I met my goals, it encouraged me to expand my goals and ultimately it did affect my everyday life.
If there is a big goal that you want to achieve this year, I want to challenge you to break it down to determine what it would take to reach that goal by the year’s end. Find out what small steps it will take, so that you can start changing the small habits you need to change so you can gradually achieve that goal. If becoming a healthier version of you is your goal, find small ways to change your routine so you can incorporate more fitness or change some of your eating habits. If your goal is to produce/collect more than the prior year, determine what your average daily production was last year and see how you can tweak your schedule to include the additional production. You have the ability to change your habits and routine as long as you visualize your big goal, then set smaller bite sized goals that help you work towards achieving your big goal one step at a time.
I was blessed that I was born into a family of driven and loving people. They taught me how to surround myself with good people as well as if you work hard enough and believe in what you are working for, life will be full of blessings and opportunities. You are a part of the good people I have surrounded myself with, and I want to thank you for all your love and support over the years. Cheers to a happy New Year for you and your loved ones!