Once a new year begins, a fresh start is something that always comes to mind!
A blank slate. Three-hundred and sixty-five pages waiting to be written. Right now, there is no shortage of new year’s resolutions, January gym memberships, shiny new planners, and jam-packed life goals. These are all helpful pieces to create a successful year, but it’s important to remember they are just that… pieces.
It’s easy to think if we choose the perfect goal and add super strict guidelines to doing the most we can each day that we’ll get everything we want in return. If you’ve ever fallen off your goals by February before, you’ve found out that it doesn’t really work that way. I have been there!
Sustainability is key when it comes to creating a truly fresh start. If you choose a routine too extreme, you’ll tire out quickly and become discouraged.
Let’s dive into how you can cultivate a fresh start this year without losing momentum in the early months!
Choose Lifestyle Changes vs Resolutions
Right off the bat, I am not saying that all new year’s resolutions are bad! They’re truly not and many people handle them so well. If it works for you, please continue using them! 🙂 I’m really zoning in on those harsh resolutions that typically are off the table by the end of January because people completely give up on them.
I had one of those light bulb moments about my new year’s resolutions a couple of years ago. At the end of the year, I realized I didn’t feel successful, at least not based on my resolutions alone. I worked really hard for the early months of the year, maybe made it to March, and then I was completely exhausted with them.
I needed something that would work! What I figured out was that I needed to make lifestyle changes versus just naming something I wanted to do without any real buildup to get myself there.
Lifestyle changes require habit changes.
I’ll give you a quick example of how this worked (or rather, didn’t work) for me:
New Years Resolution: Get Fit
- Go to the gym everyday
- Walk five miles on the treadmill daily
- Do 30 arm exercises daily
- Zero sugar intake
- Eat breakfast each day
Are you mentally exhausted after reading all of that? I am! I literally thought I was going to do every single task on this list, every single day, for the entire year. Mind you, I wasn’t doing any of these tasks previously. Yikes! These are the types of overarching resolutions that are created only to be broken.
Be Specific with Your Goals
If you take a look at my new year’s resolution above, you’ll likely notice that it’s not very clear or specific.
Getting ‘fit’ is subjective. I can’t measure or track getting fit in any way, unless I judge it by if I’m doing everything on that list above daily, which isn’t sustainable. Especially for a complete beginner of all of those things!
You truly have to name it to claim it when it comes to goals. By name, it needs to be so crystal clear that there is no guessing at what you’re trying to achieve. Something like ‘drink (8) 8 oz. glasses of water daily’ or ‘run 5 miles per week’ would have been so much better.
Focus on Habits
As I mentioned earlier, lifestyle changes require habit changes – we have to be devoted to creating habits that support our desired goals.
With my new year’s resolution, I didn’t take into account to ‘get fit’ I would need to drink an adequate amount of water, make sure I was sleeping 6-8 hours per night, eat foods that would help my muscles for the exercises I had planned, etc. I was effectively throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what would stick, haha!
Atomic Habits is one of my all-time favorite books. I keep it sitting on my desk each day! I learned so much about creating good habits from this book, and it made me want to subscribe to James Clear’s weekly email list. It’s super valuable yet short and sweet, I highly recommend it.
Keep a Goal Planner
Speaking of cultivate, one of my favorite things every single year is to pick up a PowerSheets Planner from Cultivate What Matters.
These planners are goal-specific and they include prep work that lays as a foundation for accomplishing your goals. It really helps to get your mindset and vision focused on what’s important, as well as what’s not!
I just ordered this exact PowerSheets Planner (Natural Linen) and can’t wait to share it with you! I used last year’s PowerSheets to work through this month, so I’ll start fresh with February in my new planner.
That’s a wrap on how to cultivate a fresh start this year, friends! I’d love to hear how your new year is going so far and your thoughts on this post!
As always, I’d love if you shared this post if it was helpful to you. Thanks so much for all you do and for being here with me!
I need to get this book! Thanks for sharing these tips on sustaining good habits. I don’t make resolutions but focus on my word of the year. Presence is mine and hoping keeping close to God will keep me on the right path.
https://www.kathrineeldridge.com
I hope you’ll love it if you grab it, Kathrine! It’s truly one of my favorites, I’m looking at it right now on my desk as I type this, haha. I always love seeing what your word for the year is, you pick great ones and presence is perfect! I have no doubt God has big things in store for you this year! 🙂
I got the audio version of that book last year and I kind of regret not getting the paperback, so I could jot done more notes! I agree, that you really need to build up to a habit. Like, getting up at 5 a.m. sounds easy, but if you haven’t been doing it or if you’re going to bed too late… it won’t happen! It is almost easier to get up a little earlier by 15 min or so each day for a week to get to that early rising goal. Love this!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
I bet the audiobook was still really good though! I agree, I’ve thought about going through mine and highlighting things and making tabs so I can get to important pages. It’s truly one of those books I go back into from time to time and it’s always valuable. Yes, you are so right on the habit note, and you always inspire me with your routines and breaking things down!
These are such good tips!! I will need to check out that book.
Jennifer
Curated by Jennifer
Aww, thanks so much Jennifer!! 🙂 I hope you’ll love it if you pick it up!!
These are great tips – I always try to break my goals down into little achievable snippets. And sometimes I am still not specific enough. Atomic Habits has been on my reading list for over a year, and I should really just go out and buy the book.
Jill – Doused in Pink
Thanks so much, my friend! That is so helpful to break them down and as you can tell from my post, I can absolutely relate on not always being specific. Aww, I think you’d really love the book, it’s worth every penny, truly!
That goal planner sounds great! I like to have small achievable goals. It really helps me feel accomplished and motivated!
Thanks, Laura!! I really love my PowerSheets, it arrived a couple of days ago and I’m staring at it right now, haha! 🙂 That is so wonderful, that is a great way to stay motivated and by breaking them into smaller goals, it’s easy to see just how much you’re getting done rather than feeling the dreaded overwhelm of the super large goals!
What a wonderful post my friend! You really nailed it about the habits and I think that is a book I really would enjoy! I really try to do so much of this and it is helpful. And people need to realize we can’t achieve everything but we should definitely celebrate the small little victories! Have a wonderful weekend sweetheart!
Thank you so much, Andrea!! I hope you’ll love the book if you grab it, it is SO good! That is such a great point, we should enjoy those small victories, they’re often so much more meaningful than we even realize! 🙂 I hope you have a fantastic weekend my friend!
I totally agree one should look to change one’s habits or the ones that are not working as opposed to resolutions. The Atomic Habits sounds liked an excellent read, I will have to check it out. Thanks for all the useful information.
Allie of
http://www.allienyc.com
Aww, thanks so much Allie, I hope your new year is off to a fantastic start! I also hope you’ll love the Atomic Habits book too if you give it a try!
I love this! New Year’s Resolutions can be so overwhelming come mid-January and beyond- but your tips about making them more lifestyle changes and being intentional make so much sense! Thanks for sharing, babe!
-Ashley
Le Stylo Rouge
Thanks a ton, Ashley! I’m so happy you enjoyed this one and I appreciate you stopping by!! 🙂
These are such great tips! I have found I have to give myself a little flexibility for a habit to stick – like instead of saying “I’ll go to the gym every day,” I’ll tell myself to choose between going to the gym, taking a walk, or doing an at-home yoga/dance class. It still meets my goal of exercise, but offers the motivation of choice. Whatever it takes to sustain those habits!
Thanks so much, Alyssa! Oh, I love that you give yourself those choices and you’re still accomplishing your goal with either choice. That’s such a wonderful idea and I can see how that breaks up the monotony too!
This is so good. I definitely stopped doing resolutions a few years ago because I felt unsuccessful when I didn’t reach them.
I definitely want to read that book. Love the concept of changing your lifestyle and habits.
http://www.fashionradi.com
Oh, thank you so much Radi! I hope you’ll love Atomic Habits if you picked it up!! 🙂
I love to plan everything 😀
Same here Kinga, it really helps!! 🙂
Have a great weekend 😀
Aww, wishing you the very same my friend!! 🙂
I love this !I am not one for resolutions rather change habits instead it’s better long-term
shy – https://www.shyyshianne.com/post/how-to-set-boundaries-with-a-narcissist-and-manipulator
Aww, so happy you loved this one, Shy!! I agree with you, I think it makes such a difference!
Well outlined. Very important tips for a fresh start.
Aww, thank you so much Melody! I truly appreciate that! 🙂