Hi Everyone!!
It's January 23rd, do you know what that means? Roughly 80% of the “New Year New Me” people are about 3
weeks away from becoming part of the statistic that they will not meet their
resolutions. Hate to start my first post off this negative but it’s true. 80%
is a HUGE number of people not following through on making positive changes –
which is not ideal. Why make resolutions and not even get the joy of achieving them??
News flash –
statistically speaking, resolutions don’t work!!!
This is why I don’t believe in resolutions. Not that I don’t
believe in making positive life changes, because I FULLY support anything that
will make you the best version of yourself. BUT I believe we should address
these positive changes in a different way.
So how should we make these strides to a better self?
HABITS
I start out my life changes by making my final goals so like
the above idea, a resolution if you will, but then I break that resolution down
into sub categories. My subcategories include all the following:
How much time will this goal take: I am a huge procrastinator
in life, mainly because my full-time job takes up a solid chunk of my life/free time,
so I always give myself a little extra time to achieve them. So why is time
important? Because, as stated above, goals are not usually quick and
achievable, so I think it’s extremely important to prepare yourself for how
long this actual goal will take to happen, so you don’t feel like giving up
with little to no headway a week into the new year.
Why do I want this change: this is my favorite part. When I am
passionate about a change, such as financial freedom, I am 10x more likely to
stick with it. I like to write these reasons down so I can go back to them
whenever I am feeling as though I am not following the right course to my goal.
This is pretty much your pep talk section, because guess what, only you can
achieve the goals you set out. No one is following you around cheering you on
every step of the way. So, I hope you’re ready to be your own personal
cheerleader.
Okay, so now that I’ve done all of the above, what’s next?
I start by taking ONE habit from each goal. Usually starting
with the most basic one and I make a mental note to strive to develop this
habit after a week or so. Once this new habit is consistent and I feel it’s
become a new part of my routine, I add in a new habit on top of the old one. I
keep doing this little pyramid building of habits on top of habits until I am
so far in that I’ve already reached my goal or close to it. By breaking it up
into small daily changes, I notice I don’t feel defeated. I tend to be kinder
to myself when I must start over on a habit because they are so simple and
small. This keeps me from failing to reach my goal because I can see the build
up to my success.
So, I want to give a little example so everyone can
understand my process a little better.
One of my goals for this year is to develop a more “Neat
Freak” side. Let’s just say if I can choose between an extra hour of sleep or
folding the laundry after coming home from work, I choose the sleep.
Unfortunately, I have spent years developing bad habits regarding this. I blame
it purely on living alone. I have lived alone roughly 4 years now and have
never had to really share my home with anyone other than the dog, who let me
just add is the reason the house is a mess most of the time. (He really loves
destuffing his toys and spreading it throughout the house as if to mimic snow.)
So, my overall goal is to become a neat freak. If I just
went crazy and started ALL of the habits a neat freak partakes in during the
first week, do you think it would stick? Maybe, but since I’ve already done
that, I know it doesn’t work for me. I can deep clean the house and keep it
tidy for a week. But then my focus starts to shift because goal achieved, my
home is clean. For now. What happens the first weekend I am stuck picking up
some extra shifts and I decide I’m too tired to clean up after dinner? Or I
have friends over and they slightly destroy the place? Do you think my
non-formed habits jump into play and I deep clean the house again to tip top
shape? Nope, I go right back to my natural habitat and say I’ll worry about it
tomorrow. Which let me just add, is my least favorite excuse I use. If I could
erase this from my vocabulary, I would. It’s such a slippery slope once those
words are formed.
Let’s start with step 1: List of habits needed to achieve
the overall goal.
- · Make bed every morning
- · Empty and fill dishwasher every evening
- · Put clothes in hamper instead of on floor (seriously how have I made it this far in life)
- · Put shoes away
- · Fold laundry as it’s finished (I am queen bee at wearing wrinkled clothing)
There are so many more habits I could add but to keep this
post from becoming a bore, I will keep it short and sweet.
Step 2: Timeline:
so, like I stated above, I know my bad habits and how well I respond to change
so I am giving myself a longer than normal timeline. Roughly, each habit should
take a week, so for the purpose of the list above I should need roughly a month
and a half to become a “neat freak”. Again, my current list, which I will
attach to this post is much longer and in depth because honestly, I have so
many awful habits I need to kick to the curb.
Step 3: My Why:
little throwback to my younger days, I was always so impressed when I would go
to my grandmothers as a kid (even still so as an adult) because she had a place
for everything, and nothing was ever out of place. I always told myself I want
people to see my home and admire me the way I admired her. So that should have
been enough, right? In this case it wasn’t. Instead it created a small amount
of shame in me that I am failing as an adult and sometimes I avoid having
company over all together. So, my why is getting rid of the shame I have when
inviting people over even when I know the place is tidy. I also want a place
for everything, AKA Minimalistic Miki is coming next because honestly, I hate
my awful desire to own stuff. But that is another post for another time.
As you can see, I shortened my real-life goal so I could
explain it. But the general practice of holding each habit to a week and adding
a new one is still how I hold myself accountable. As of right now, I am
currently working on the folding laundry and the emptying dishwasher every
evening habits and will move on from there.
I know this post may seem a little common sense, but I
genuinely believe people jump the gun so quickly to achieve the large goals
that they lose sight of how those goals are achieved long term. If I had
developed this way years ago, I may be way better off. But I also would have
something to blog about, so I guess life takes its path as needed.
I’d love to hear about everyone’s goals for the year and how
they plan to achieve them! I am routing for you, via cyber space of course. And
if anyone has any questions or even extra tips and tricks that worked for them,
I am all ears!
Here’s to the New Year
New Me Crew who won’t become part of the statistic!
Keep it up!
*Disclaimer- I have stated this before but your girl is not a Pinterest Perfect individual like most so please enjoy my chicken scratch example from my own journal 😄
