January 1, 2021

What You Should Do Instead of New Years Resolutions

Are you like the majority of people that feel like new years resolution never actually work? I’ve got a secret for you: it’s not you, its the resolutions! I’ve got a brand new system that is going to actually make changes in your life for good.

I knew that I wanted to write a New Years Resolutions article. Being a productivity blog, it was kind of a given.

But I had a lot of trouble coming up with what to write about. I didn’t want to write the basic How to make a New Years resolution or something along those lines. I wanted to give everyone reading a new perspective, not something that we have all read a million times.

So I did what any blogger would do… I went to Pinterest in search for some ideas.

I found a lot of basic blog articles about resolutions. After reading and reading and more reading, I realized how stupid the concept of a “New Years Resolution” is.

So I decided to write about that. About why you SHOULD NOT be making New Years Resolutions this year and what you should do instead.

And of course, I had to make a stunning and FREE printable for you to truly make the most out of the new year!

This post is all about new years resolutions!

First: why you should not make New Years resolutions

They are not specific

You are making your New Years resolutions at a time that everyone is making New Years resolutions. Because of that, a lot of the time everyone’s resolutions are all along the same lines.

Exercise more, eat healthier, drink more water, etc, etc.

But honestly, telling yourself to drink more water is not going to change how much water you drink. Even if you write it down and make a pretty “2021 vision board,” that is not going to change the amount of water you are drinking.

What will change this is definitive action and a specific plan to make this “resolution” into a new life habit.

But that is not the typical New Years resolution that people make, unless you are some ultra-productive person (which unfortunately most of us are not).

They tend to become very comparative

Most times, you are making a New Years Resolution because someone else says it’s a good idea.

Whether that “someone else” is your mom, your best friend, or some random person on Instagram, they are influencing your resolutions.

If your favorite social media icon says they are going to start eating a special “healthy” diet, you may want to jump on the bandwagon and make yourself a resolution to eat the same diet. But, that diet may not fit into the structure of your life.

Maybe you can’t afford the special foods or maybe you don’t have access to these foods. And on top of that, you may not have needed to follow that special diet in the first place.

But because they were doing it, it influenced your resolutions.

They force you to split up your time

How and why should you expect yourself to exercise more, eat healthier, and drink more water all at the SAME time. That sounds completely unreasonable.

But essentially, that is what creating New Years resolutions sets yourself up for. You are trying to make yourself achieve all of your goals AT ONE TIME all because the number at the end of the year is changing.

It is hard enough to create one new habit in your life. But trying to create 3 or more is nearly impossible.

They don’t lead to results

My last reason I don’t see the point in making New Years Resolutions is because they (usually) don’t ever amount to anything. Yes, you may achieve all of your hopes and dreams next year, but for the majority of us, by February or March they are a forgotten thought of the past.

As a result, they become a drain to your valuable time, energy, and money. It takes time and energy not only to decide on resolutions, but you also must account for whatever time you put into the failed attempt at creating a new habit.

And in many cases, you may spend money for new equipment or special appliances, only to be wasted and forgotten in a few short months.

Not only are they extremely wasteful, but then you end up feeling guilty for all the waste your resolutions caused.

Maybe you bought an expensive Air Fryer in an attempt to eat healthy and never use it. Now, every time you walk into your kitchen you are reminded of your failed resolution.

Second: what you can do instead

Now, I didn’t want to just give you a bunch of reasons not to make resolutions and then leave you hanging. This article was in no way meant to make you feel disappointed or discouraged going into the new year.

So, now I am going to explain what you should do instead for you to actually see the results that you want for the new year and avoid everything I mentioned above.

If you are truly committing to making a change in your life and want to follow this system, the best way to do it will be by following along using my FREE printable!

All you have to add is add your name and email below and the printable will be sent straight to your inbox! Just print it out and you are good to go!

Step 1: choose 3 new habits you want to implement into your life

The first step is to choose 3 new habits that are the most important changes you want to make in the new year. I am calling them habits and not goals or resolutions for a reason.

A goal or resolution sounds vague and unachievable. A habit is a specific plan of action that derives specific results.

– goal: I want to drink more water

– habit: I want to drink 64 ounces of water every day

If it helps you, start with a vague goal and then make it into a more specific habit. Once you decide on your 3 habits, write them down on your phone or some paper… don’t use the printable just yet!

Step 2: rank your habits

Once you can decide on 3 specific habits, you need to rank them in order of importance to you. First should be the most important change you want to make, and third is the third most important change.

You are doing this because you want to first focus on what is most important to you. In order to prevent yourself from trying to enforce 3 new habits, we are going to work one at a time.

January	Habit #1
February	Habit #2
March	Habit #3

Once you decide the order of importance of your habits, you want to add these to the printable. On the corresponding month’s calendar, add your habit on the top right corner of the paper!

I know it may sound daunting to have to be implementing these habits for so long, but this is not going to happen overnight.

And look on the bright side: if you stick with this system you will at least guarantee that you will be following your plan for 3 months, which may be more than you ever have in the past.

Step 3: break up each habit into manageable pieces

This step is probably the hardest, only because it takes the most time and thought. If you are working towards implementing a new habit in one month, break it down into 4 progress steps, one per week of the month.

Continuing with the water example, my habit was to drink 64 ounces of water every day. I cannot just wake up one day and start doing this.

You might think you can (and maybe you are able to), but for most people it is not very sustainable in the long run. So instead, we are going to break down this habit into progress steps.

Week 1	drink 16 ounces of water each day during the week
Week 2	drink 32 ounces of water each day during the week
Week 3	drink 48 ounces of water each day during the week
Week 4	drink 64 ounces of water each day during the week

Each week your actions should gradually increase, until you have reached your desired habit by week 4. Obviously water was an easy example, but this can be adapted for eating habits, exercise, weight loss, or whatever else your habit may be.

If you are having trouble breaking down your progress steps, please feel free to contact me and I’ll help you out!

Once you do this for one habit, you are just going to do the same thing for the other 2! Then just add in each process step in the corresponding week on your printable.

Step 4: follow your plan and adapt as necessary

All that’s left to do is follow the specific plan of action you made for yourself. On your printable, you can do this one of two ways. First, you could draw an x, line, heart, or whatever else you want on the box with that day of the month.

Another thing you can do is add in exactly what you did on the calendar portion of the printable. For example, if your habit is to drink a certain amount of water, you could write the amount of ounces you drank each day in the calendar.

Personally, I will be tracking my progress towards these goals each week during my weekly reset. For more info about this system, click here to read!

The most important thing to remember is that you should not stop habit 1 once you start habit 2. Just because the designated month is over does not mean you should stop.

You are creating a lifetime habit, not a month long habit. So keep going with habit 1 as you complete 2 and 3.

If you have not stuck with any one (or more) of your habits, do not worry. It is still early in the year and you have plenty of time to catch up. Start yourself again at the beginning of the month and try again.

Try to figure out what went wrong the first time and adapt as needed to avoid these problems. If you need the printable for a different month, just email me and I can send you exactly what you need!

Wrap up

I want to add that if you already made yourself New Years Resolutions, you should not be worried. Those resolutions can easily be adapted to use this system.

And one more thing before I finish. This is going to take time. This is going to take effort. You are not going to see results overnight, or even at the end of the month.

You have to be consistent and committed to your habits and eventually they will bring you the results you are looking for. If you have any questions or need help in formulating your habits or progress steps, I am always here!

If you want to see my habits over the course of the next three months as an example, click here to follow me on instagram. Each week, I will be updating you on my progress towards creating these new habits!