New Year’s Resolutions: To Make or Not to Make?

Resolutions.

Do you make them? People seem to take pride in their resolutions. I mean, they are looking to better themselves, right? But, isn’t a resolution just a goal… one we can make at ANY time? We can surrender to self-discipline at anytime of the year, so why do we need the first day of the year to push us into it?

Some of the most popular resolutions include: losing weight, exercising more, eating better, quitting smoking, and saving more money… But, shouldn’t we be doing these things at all times of the year? Will making it on this one day change the probability of you following through? According to statistics, the answer is “No.”

Forbes.com says that only 8% of people keep their New Year’s Resolutions. They go on to say that the key to create a New Year’s Resolution that will stick is to make it tangible and to limit the number of resolutions you make for yourself. Funny… those are two popular tenants of goal-making, as well!

I say we change the idea of New Year’s Resolutions and do something as beautiful as FIT4MOM did here.

Let’s make our own New Year’s Manifesto!

Here’s how:

• Focus on what your “I believe” statements are… The best thing about “I believe” statements is that they can be what you WANT to believe about yourself. Believing is being, right?
• Think about how you want to LIVE and not about a specific goal. I really love Kindness Blog‘s latest post on resolutions. Whereas Kristi (the author) is making actual resolutions, most of them are about how she wants to move through this world, how she wants to be remembered, and how she wants to impact others with her life.
• Make it pretty (if you’re motivated by nice-looking documents as much as I am) and post it where you will see it every day of the year. You can use Word/Pages, Photoshop, or PicMonkey!

Here’s one I made:

• I believe I am strong.
• I believe I am a generous mother.
• I believe I am a selfless wife.
• I believe I am a positive friend.
• I believe I am creative.
• I believe I am healthy from the inside out.
• I believe I am a soft place to land.
• I believe I am inspiring.

And I made it pretty!