Next year will be a whole new chapter in my life which naturally this made me wonder what I wanted to achieve. I’ve been thinking a lot about long term goals but realistically, to get there we have lots of short term goals to keep ourselves feeling fulfilled and motivated.

It also gives us a good chances to give ourselves a pat on the back when we have the chance to reflect on how many leaps we’ve made when we could have stopped.

I thought that since it’s almost 2023, it would be a good chance to brainstorm some new years resolutions together.

There’s always the really cliché ones like, ‘I’m going to lose weight’ or ‘I’m going to go to the gym’ which are generally dumped by January (lets be honest) so I wanted to look deeper and think of them as stepping stones to our goals rather than things to just check off the list.

Here are just a few resolutions I’ve though of. They’re not my personal resolutions (I’ll do another post later) but they’re just a few I’ve thought out that might give you some ideas of what you want your resolutions to be. I’ve separated them into three categories which are based of the basic human needs pyramid to make sure I’ve hopefully covered as much as possible.

Improve your concentration and mentality
Turn off all computers and mobile phones at least half an hour before bed
Learn to cook/eat out less often
Drink more water and stay hydrated
Step outside your comfort zone and say yes to something new
Set yourself a reading goal and try to fulfill it
Learn to speak a new language
Do what makes you happy don’t strive to please others
Allocate yourself time to sit down and eat breakfast
Eat at least one serving of fruit a day
Floss your teeth and use mouthwash
Allocate yourself a pamper day where you help yourself feel the best
Think of one compliment to give yourself each day
Learn a musical instrument
Eat more vegetables and find a way to make them enjoyable
Give up smoking and reduce your alcohol intake
Call your family up once a week
Make and send birthday cards to your friends and family
Actually phone your friends – texting doesn’t count
Do a spring clean and donate belongings you no longer need
Give a friends a genuine compliment each day
Sign up for some leisure activity classes
Try the 365 photo challenge
Make money budget and learn to save
Join a volunteer organisation
Visit and join your local library
Smile at your colleagues/classmates
Take your own lunch to school/work
Don’t use the car if you don’t have to
Get your eyes tested
Visit the dentist
Go travel the world
Write a diary/keep a journal
Go outside at least once a day
Continue your studies and go back to school
Take a short course to learn a random new skill
Get a haircut or makeover
See a therapist
Donate to children in need
Breathe through your temper
Start a blog!

After brain storming some resolutions I did some research and came to the realisation that only 8% of people stick to their resolutions. That’s a pretty shocking percentage considering how positive and enthusiastic we are when we make them. It made me realise that these resolutions are such hard ground.

They’re all either right or wrong which results in us having black and white thinking. Using myself as an example, I’m a perfectionist. I either put in 100% effort or none at all if I know it’s going to fail.

Let’s just say it was pretty bizarre explaining my school reports to my parents. This maybe the basis to why half the resolutions go out the window. It’s easier to dump then all than to tell yourself it’s okay that it didn’t work today because you’ve got the entire year to work on it.

Contents:

Ideas To Sticking To You Resolutions:

Believe in yourself.

If you think your resolutions going to fail anyway are you going to commit? Give your goals half way points and congratulate yourself for even trying to take the next step. Self talk yourself like you would a friend. You’d encourage them to continue and tell them how proud you were of them.

Plan of action.

I can’t stress this enough but planning is such a motivational way to achieve your goals. It helps you to feel organised and satisfied when you tick off that complete box.

Realistically speaking no you’re most likely not going to fit into a size 6 in a month just by adding a few more vegetables onto your plate. You’ll then feel disappointed with yourself and most likely throw the resolution out the window. Set yourself achievable goals in a decent time frame.

Don’t give up.

If you’ve been doing something for almost your entire life it’s hard to change so suddenly. Humans are creatures of habit that like sticking to our comfort zone. Commend yourself for even making it to February and accept that it takes time to rewire and create new habits.

Peer pressure.

We’ve all heard of the negatives of peer pressure such a social smoking and binge drinking. It doesn’t all have to be bad though. Having a good source of inspiration around will also pressure you to make good changes. Team up with a friend and work on your goals together having a little friendly competition along the way.

That is probably the longest blog post I have ever written! For me personally, I want to have a fresh start to my life in 2023. This year’s been a rough year for me and I’m sure many of you reading can say the same.

I’m going to pick five new years resolutions and even if I just keep one of them, I’m going to be positive about it. I hope this post gave you some ideas about resolution choices. I know that not all of them are applicable to everyone including myself but hopefully there’s at least one or two that can spark a successful change.