Still working on those new year resolutions from last year? Follow these simple tips for making and obtaining reasonable New Year's goals.
New Year Resolutions | Making The Homestead Happier
You could have the best new year’s resolutions in mind for this year but have no idea where to start, or (if you're anything like me) begin over-committing yourself and start to burn out before you’ve even begun. Don’t let this new year beat you down quickly with unobtainable goals and expectations. Learn how to keep your new year resolutions this year by making reasonable goals you can actually obtain.
1. Accept You Can't Do It All
As much as we’d like to think we can reorganize our entire homes, raise a whole barnyard full of animals, run a co-op, keep our kids happy and healthy, run a marathon, and save for a trip to Rome we can't do all those things all at once. But we can do some of them, and that’s what we’ll focus on! If it’s only one thing, so be it. If you can tackle thirteen things, that’s great too. Just keep reasonable expectations.
2. Make A Bucket List
Many people make new year’s resolutions without a specific end goal in mind. If you make a list of all that you want to accomplish in life, prioritizing will be easier when you make your goals this year. Again, keep in mind that you shouldn’t try to accomplish everything at once. A bucket list is an ongoing, ever-changing and growing list – be realistic when choosing how many items on it you will check off in 365 days!
3. Prioritize
Which things do you want or need the most? What benefits you most at this point in your life? What is achievable this year? Ask yourself these questions and you’ll begin to whittle away at your bucket list little by little.
4. Budget
Whether it’s time or money, you’ll need to make sure that you’re setting aside what you need to achieve the goals you’ve made. Budgeting is where a lot of people get caught up. Don’t try to do everything at once. Just chip away at the goal one piece at a time and you’ll reach it!
5. Join A Community
Going at it alone makes it difficult to stay motivated. Join an online community or a local community of people attempting to accomplish the same goals. You’ll share trials and tribulations and get loads of helpful advice.
6. Ask For Help
Hey, it’s not easy to do, but if you’re taking on an extra project or two, don’t be afraid to ask for a little assistance. It’ll save you from getting overwhelmed and who knows, maybe the person you recruit for help will enjoy doing your project just as much as you do, and you’ll motivate them!
7. Keep Track Of Your Milestones
Even if you’re chipping away at it slowly, progress is progress! Make small goals or place milestones within your goal to accomplish, and you’ll feel less far from the end goal the more boxes you tick along the way.
8. Do Not Beat Yourself Up Over Setbacks Or Failures
So you didn’t get it this time. It’s okay. Just reset and start again or adjust your goal to be more realistic. We can’t all do things the way that everyone else does them, and that’s perfectly fine. Do it your own way and make yourself happy!
9. Reward Yourself
It doesn’t have to be anything huge. Maybe your reward is even a day off (or a lazy version) of what you’ve been doing. But when you reach a milestone, make sure you treat yourself to some of the good life. You deserve it!
10. Keep On Keeping On
Research says that doing something for 21 days forms a habit. Look at things in terms of 24-hour increments (“I can do this for one more day”) and soon enough those 24-hour increments pile into a week, then a month, and it’ll get easier and you may even find yourself looking forward to it.
Want to see how the New Year resolutions evolved? Check out this video from geobeats:
There you have it, my fellow homesteaders – simple tips to help you create and obtain your New Year’s resolutions and set some long-term changes in your life. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
What're your new year resolutions this year? We're excited to know! Let us know in the comments section below.
Up Next: Realistic Year-End Reflections, From One Homesteader To Another
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Editor’s Note – This post was originally published on January 2016 and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
The picture of the bulldog is kind of how I feel today – and I haven’t even started my new goals for 2015!
I use a goal setting software to keep track of my milestones and what I need to do today, tomorrow, and even next month. It also has a vision board on it, so I can look at my goals each morning and remember why I’m working towards them.