The new year brings with it new possibilities. Here I include the most important new year resolution ideas you should be adding to the list.
But not so fast, research shows 80% of us do not follow through on our resolutions.
So, if you are reading this at the beginning of the year, the chances are that you are setting your resolutions based on the emotions of the “new year” hype, or you want to feel good about setting goals and probably won’t follow through till the end.
My point is; you are probably in the 80% of us who never follow through. If you are in the 20% who follow through, great!
In order to increase your chances of successfully following through on a resolution; don’t take ideas from a random person on the internet who has no idea what your life is like or what changes you might need to make to live better without reflection. I highly recommend you reflect on your life. I don’t know what you need to work on most, and no one on the internet does.
Forget the hype of the new year, if you are serious about changing, the new year is a time for reflection, what did you fail to achieve last year?
What have you always wanted to do? Pick goals that you care about so that the changes you make come from within and are truly meaningful to you.
Here are few ideas to add to the New year resolution list
Reflect on your mortality
“Life is only precious because it ends, kid.” ― Rick Riordan
Don’t wait for a life tragedy, a heart attack, or loss of a loved one to remind you that you are mortal. Make it a habit to reflect on this every few months.
I have found this to be the best way to ensure that I do not lose track of what is important to me and discard what is trivial but appears to be necessary.
Calm down the voice in your head
The average human being thinks at least 50,000 thoughts a day, 80% of which are negative and repetitive. If the saying is true that “As a man thinketh, so he is,” this means that the average person is unhappy and miserable 80% of the time.
When was the last time you genuinely laughed so hard that your stomach hurt? When was the last time you were joyful throughout the day without a single irritation? Joyous moments are becoming increasingly rare.
If you would like to have more joy in your life, calming down the voice in your head is an excellent place to start. Meditation and Hatha Yoga have been helpful for me in this, but we are all different, you are free to find something suitable for you.
Be open; Receive the unknown
It does not matter what plans you have made this year; some will go according to plan, and some won’t. That is just the way life is.
While there is nothing wrong with making plans, we often get too attached to the plan that if it does not work out as envisioned, we get angry and depressed.
Resolve to be open. If a plan does not go as expected, receive it with grace. Don’t complain or refuse to change direction, give yourself a few minutes to mourn the collapsed plan, and then get up and change direction.
Pay Attention
Thinking 50,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day is evidence that we never fully engage in one task at any given moment (unless that task is thinking). Put simply; we are not putting our full potential to the task.
Set a goal to give your full attention to at least one thing this year.
Abandon the desire to be better than others
For many of us, success means being a little better than someone next to us. It is no surprise that depression and suicide have increased with the rise of social media. I like to refer to social media as “keeping up with the joneses on steroids.”
Success is not looking at where someone else is running and trying to outrun them or at least catch up. Success must be defined as you doing your best and running at your peak regardless of whether someone is doing better than you or worse than you.
Let this year be the time to abandon the desire to be better than others and focus on reaching the highest potential you can get to regardless of the level of success of those around you.
Forgive more
Forgiveness should be a goal on the list of every human being. Make it a goal to forgive yourself for all the mistakes you will make this year, forgive the year that has gone, what you didn’t do, what you did, what your spouse, mother, child, friend forgive it all.
Continue to forgive yourself when you do things you are not proud of, and you know you will. Forgive some more, and the new year will be free of resentment, excessive anger, and strive.
Become Intentional
Live this year intentionally. The question you should be asking yourself every day of every hour is, “What is my intention?”.
Before you make a purchase, what is my intention, before you begin a project, what is my intention before you spend time with your partner, what is my intention. Continue to ask this question every day, and you will radically change how you live your life.
Everything you do will become intentional! Your life too will become deliberate and purposeful.
Do something that makes you Afraid
Fear is the only reason most of us never take a chance on our dreams. All the many reasons we give for not reaching our potential all have one underlying emotion, fear!
Make it a point to do at least one thing this year that scares you most. Liberation is always on the other side of fear.
Smile more often
Set a goal that each day you wake up, no matter how you feel; you will smile! Let this be the year you smile. Why because you made it, it’s another day that you have been strong enough to take on life. Life is hard, but you are here still living, still taking care of your loved ones, showing up at work no matter how hard it gets. You woke up another day, even when things are hard, you still got up, that is why you should smile.
Smile! At whom? At yourself, you are alive; you woke up. Wow! It’s a beautiful day. Then go out and check, the sun came out, the trees are still breathing out the very oxygen you need. Why let negative thoughts keep you from smiling at such a miracle.
Volunteer
Volunteer a minimum of an hour a month of your time to a cause you believe makes the world better. When you are helping others, somehow, you never ask, “what is the meaning of life?”. Volunteering, especially for a cause you care about, is fulfilling and makes life meaningful.
Commit to kill one bad habit
Pick a bad habit that you have always had and, commit yourself to kill it. If you get angry easily you can say: this year I will not speak angry words. I will instead communicate when I calm down and commit to it.
Sticking to the goals you set at the beginning of the year can be difficult, many of us eventually lose the enthusiasm we had at the beginning. Therefore, pursue only the goals you care about, it is the only way you will keep you going after the enthusiasm declines.
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