I never liked New Years Resolutions because it’s so cliche. Everyone starts on the same date to “be a better version of themselves”, acting as if they couldn’t start back in the summer when they initially wanted to change. If I want to change something about myself, my habits, or my behavior, I don’t need a specific day to do it! It feeds into the “I’ll start tomorrow” mentality, and I’m not into it. However, there are many behaviors I do that fall into the “excuses” category, and that’s what I’m looking to change in 2019.
Advice I’ve heard over and over from mentors and successful people, is that writing down goals and setting intentions is an extremely important exercise for success.Writing down goals is something I’ve never been good at. If I’m honest and look in the mirror, this is truly the reason why I don’t like New Years Resolutions, and the paragraph above is the excuse I use to cover up the fact that I struggle with coming up with realistic goals. I’m scared that whatever I write down is too big, too hard, and too lofty to achieve. So before I even put in any work or effort, I’m already dismissing myself and my ability to achieve them. Out with the negative, and in with the positive goals of 2019:
1. Create and write down MONTHLY GOALS.
Year long goals don’t give the roadmap of what’s needed to achieve them, which is probably another reason why New Years Resolutions don’t sit well with me. Instead of looking at the large, scary goals, I’m changing my perspective and breaking it down by monthly goals. In addition, I’ll set weekly milestones to make everything seem more achievable. This also allows my goals to be flexible, setting new intentions each month on what I need based on progressions throughout the year.
One of the tools I’m using to help me stay organized and achieve this goal is the Full Focus Planner. I was dead set on the Erin Condren planners, but Ross gave this to me as a Christmas gift, and the first 28 pages are goal planning and it was EXACTLY what I needed. Annual goal statements and goal details pages including: goal category, SMART goal template, motivations, next steps, reward, and tracker.
2. Look in the Mirror & Quit Making Excuses
I prefaced on this in the introduction of this post, and it ties really closely with a Window/Mirror behavioral analogy Ross brought up to me recently. Are you looking out the window or in the mirror? Most of our problems, bad habits, and behaviors derive from ourselves, but were quick to blame someone else, an outside force, or ANYTHING other than ourselves (looking out the window). Why is it so hard to look in the mirror and take ownership for our own mistakes and characteristics? Because it means we have to change instead of someone else.
For me, I tell myself excuses on why I don’t think something will work, why I’m not good enough, or a strew of negative commentary rationalizing why it can’t be. My number one excuse right now that’s limiting me: I don’t have enough followers. This brand won’t say yes because I don’t have enough followers, I can’t offer a service. I’ll do it once I have more followers. I’m making up an excuse, justifying on why I’m going to fail before I even begin.
This year (and forever forward) I’ll start looking at myself more critically in the mirror to change the negative behavior that’s limiting my growth. I have to stop with the excuses, stop being afraid to hear no, and put in the effort to eventually hear a yes.
3. Be on Time
Switching gears to goal that seems less complex, but I am legit ALWAYS LATE. It’s guaranteed I will be late to everything, and it’s basically how I function. I jam pack activity to activity, leaving no room for transition in between. I tell myself lies that I have to leave 15 minutes sooner than the planned time and I STILL don’t leave on time. This causes SO MUCH EXTRA stress in my life, and the only way I can see myself achieving this goal is by setting by next goal below:
4. Plan LESS activity
I love a schedule for my day, however I’m really good at setting myself up for chaos by thinking I can fit everything planned in my day. I underestimate transition times from activity to activity, and underestimate the amount of time for simpler tasks like writing captions, editing pictures, driving to workout classes, grocery shopping, and every other activity that should be normal and not stressful.
I spread myself pretty thin, and instead of adjusting my schedule I continue to overestimate what I can do in a day. This leads to me taking it out on other people, who have nothing to do with the situation however they hear me complain about how stressed I am, didn’t fit in my workout, or didn’t have time to finish writing my blog post.
Planning less activity and prioritizing what’s really important should help keep my life a little less stressful and help me be on time to the activities I do commit to!
I’m looking forward to a happy, healthy, and successful 2019 with these 4 behaviors I plan on changing! I hope some of these goals also help you set the right pace for 2019.
What are your goals for the New Year?
P.S. – outfit inspo here was Miley Cyrus on SNL – keeping a blazer shut w/ nothing underneath took A LOT more fashion tape than expected.
