As it is the second month of the year, most of you are probably falling off the track you set for yourselves with your New Year’s resolutions. Personally, I could not even tell you what I decided to do a month ago. If I had to guess, I probably would’ve said the same old, “drink more water” or “go on my phone less,” neither of which I had a strong attachment to. Instead of throwing away the intentions of these resolutions at all, I decided to revisit the way I think about these goals, in a way that makes them more realistic.
Why do we set goals for ourselves in only one out of the twelve months? I think that this concept is doomed to fail as many factors can change within a couple of weeks, nevermind over multiple months. Contemplating my own challenges, I do not think that it would be reasonable for me to stick to setting a few larger goals for the entirety of a year. I know the kind of pressure I put on myself, and one off day would cause me to reevaluate everything. I think that the intentions that we set for ourselves should be reasonable, and our goals should be far reaching. We can manifest our goals in whatever way we see fit, but our intentions should be the daily tasks we want to accomplish. These should be constantly changing, and topical to what is going on in our lives at the moment.
There is no need to drastically change who you are throughout the year, like some resolutions imply, but instead I believe it is a time to become who you want to be. This could mean something different to everyone, so there is no need for comparison. Take a couple moments to reflect and decide what activities you want to dedicate your time to, or to phrase it differently, at the end of this year what do you want to say you have accomplished?
Here are the general points I have come up with to make your intentions and goals achievable for the duration of 2022:
- Set your daily intentions each morning: this can be as simple as thinking them to yourself while making coffee, or writing it down in your notes app. Keep these short and sweet so you are likely to follow through with them
- Set your goals once a month: I suggest doing a large reset day where you fully rejuvenate yourself and clean all the energy around you. These goals can be loftier and taken more as suggestions than requirements.
- Do not hold yourself to an unrealistic standard: you probably are not going to eat a salad every meal 7 days a week, and if you force yourself to, you are not going to enjoy it. Take rest days and analyze how things are going, and change it up if you need.
- Hold yourself accountable in whatever way works for you: tell a friend your plan, or even better, do these things together. I think that this tactic works well as there is a mutual understanding that you do not want to let the other person down.
- Remember that becoming the best version of yourself is a marathon, not a sprint: take your time and enjoy the process. There will be hard days and days you want to give up, but just remember that there is a reason for this struggle, even if it is not clear at the moment.