Keep It Simple

So you want to learn a new language, get in shape, learn guitar, begin crafting, write a paragraph of your novel every day, make gifts for all of your friends, create a blog, read a book a week, moderate your social media intake while posting a picture every day to Instagram, and “find yourself”? With what time?

Everything in your life is built on habits, from brushing your teeth to watching TV. Adding too many new things to the mix will lead to burnout. Fast. It is certainly possible to do all of these things in a year, but cramming them all into the first month is ill-advised. Pick one or two goals to start out, once you have established those habits, add in more.

Remember: it’s not a contest, and at the end of the day no one cares. This is for you.

Keep Yourself Accountable

Posting on January 1st about the New Year New You™ is not accountability; it’s barely a status update. If every year you announce your resolve to exercise each day, and every year you falter early February, perhaps your Facebook post is not actually holding you accountable.

Find apps or websites or groups that both connect you to other individuals with similar goals and help you devise a plan to achieve them. Join a club. Talk with your friends. Make standing appointments to write or go to the gym together. Make it a priority.

Keep Trying

You will fail. You’ll get sick, you’ll get busy, you’ll forget. Remember, this isn’t a competition. No matter how long it takes, at any time you can restart to get to your goal. The purpose of a resolution is to improve yourself, and that’s continuous. Don’t think of it as hitting a check every day, consider that you are creating a habit, that you are changing yourself.

I’ve generally detested the idea of New Year’s Resolutions because the passing from December 31 to January 1 has no meaningful correlation to where you are in life, aside from being a universally accepted time for reflection. In fact, most of the determined improvements I’ve made in my life this past year were begun in May and August, even October.

Often it’s inconvenient to change at the New Year. Sometimes, your heart just is not in it. If you force the same habits that are never established in the same way at the same time every year, they won’t stick. Don’t beat your head against the same wall again because everyone else is. Remember: You can change your life at any time.

If now is the time, great. Otherwise, just wait for it. The changing of one year into the next is a time for reflection. Figure out what you want to do, whether it’s learning a specific skill or improving yourself. Make a sticky note, change your wallpaper, write it on your mirror. Remind yourself every day of your goal, try to do something to reach it, and if that doesn’t work, try again tomorrow.