The beginning of a new year is the opportunity to reflect on your past and look to the future. For many, the expectation of choosing New Year’s resolutions can be overwhelming. Personally, I am not excited about making New Year’s resolutions, mainly because they are usually vague and not realistic. There is an underlying social expectation that whatever you resolve for the new year will fail before the end of January. It is the American way. To make a major change and expect to maintain the change for a long period of time can set you up to fail or at the very least, feel bad that you haven’t accomplished all the goals you have placed on yourself.
On the other hand, if you are the kind of person motivated by the idea of a New Year’s resolution, great! My only suggestion is to keep your resolution small and specific. Let’s consider an example: home organizing.
You may say, "This year, I want to keep an organized house." That is great, but that is a HUGE resolution to begin all at once! Is there one “pain point” that you would really like to see improved upon immediately? Maybe it is having a neat and orderly kitchen. This may involve putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher, washing dirty sink dishes nightly, putting food items away when finished, etc. These are all areas that will require development of skills and new habits to improve. After several weeks of "mastering" your new habits and maintaining your kitchen to your liking, maybe you move onto the bedroom, as well.
Give some honest thought to the resolutions you are considering for the new year. Is the resolution manageable and realistic? Or, if it feels very broad and likely to fail, what is one small element of that resolution you can begin with?
Here's to a Happy, Healthy, and Organized New Year!
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