New year, new you? It happens every year, indubitably with the best of intentions. You are overwhelmed on every front with suggestions of joining a gym or any other service you can be sold under the guise of self-improvement. It’s understandable that personal improvement is the motivation for these resolutions. In fact, the very thing that separates humans from every other species is our ability to recognize behaviors that need to be modified in order to produce better results. So you recognize some aspect of your life that you’d like to improve, how do you go about making these changes, and making them stick?
Contemplate Connectivity
Take control of your use of technology. The major attraction to what’s evolved into our digital world is how these devices are supposed to improve some aspect of your quality of life by putting so much information at your fingertips. But is there such a thing as too much technology? Stop and evaluate how much of your time and life is dictated by your attachment to your phone or other personal devices.
Perhaps your resolution needs to focus on unplugging more and thereby making time available to do other more fulfilling things with your time. Look over the apps that you have that don’t contribute to your quality of life. When you come across the ones that do not have a positive impact, remove them. You may be surprised at the time you now have available to genuinely improve the quality of your life; take up yoga or meditation, start journaling or reading that book you’ve been meaning to. It is important to recognize the availability of technology isn’t synonymous with it being compulsory to utilizing it.
Praise Positivity
Focusing on the negative things in your life is a pitfall most people easily succumb to, especially when it seems like you can’t catch a break. While a negative attitude might not get you too far, developing a can-do attitude can be beneficial for your overall well-being and improve the quality of your life. In order to achieve such a mindset, you can explore various self-help books, listen to podcasts, or enroll yourself in classes that teach mental reprogramming and aplicación mental (mental application) techniques.
Additionally, make it a point every week to share a positive aspect of your life with a close friend or family member. It is imperative for your mental health to be able to recognize, even when you are overwhelmed with stress and pressure, that there are still positive things in your life.
Setting Attainable Goals
Don’t think that it’s a waste of time to focus on your physical health for your new year’s resolution (remember, it’s perfectly fine to start these in February, March or July for that matter). The key is to start small and work your way up. If your goal is to fit into one of those bikinis for women you’ve been admiring, that’s great, go for it! However, if that goal is not realistic, chances are you will become discouraged before you even start to make the changes necessary to make that goal your reality. Whereas its good to have an end goal, have several smaller goals along the way. Nothing will keep you focused and motivated like meeting attainable goals and moving on to the next set of goals.
Regardless of whether you choose a resolution that improves your mental health or your physical health, what is important is how you go about making these changes. Start every single day with an intention; regardless how small, once you meet that intention you will start to feel like you have more control over your life and gradually segue to bigger goals. Another effective way to tackle your goals is to list them on paper. Once you’ve compiled your list, you can tackle it in one of two ways. First, you can attack the most daunting task first, to keep it from hanging over your head. The other option is to complete several smaller goal steps first to help you build that feeling of accomplishment.
Keep in mind, whatever resolutions you make, they need to be attainable. People tend to stick to goals that are achievable. Remain positive and don’t be afraid to take baby steps in the right direction; moving forward is always better than standing still.
