#9 Goals and New Years Resolutions (1/7/2022)

It is day 7 of the New Year. Have any of you fell of track of your goals or broke the resolution you made for yourself? Or maybe you didn't even set anything for yourself to begin with. Guess what? It is okay! Taking on new goals and resolutions isn't the easiest of tasks. The key is your habits. Adopting new habit is the moment where you can start to see major changes in your life. 

Sometimes we feel like we need a significant event to start or stop a habit. Trust is, we really don't. The most significant event that comes with habits is whenever YOU decide to make that change and do whatever it takes to keep it going. This can happen any day of the year. You do not need a changing of the year to make a goal or a resolution. 

The biggest changes I made in my life came randomly. They were not at the end/beginning of the year, or a month, or even a week. They all started at random days in the middle of the week when I decided that I needed to make this change to better myself and I was going to do whatever it took to stick with it. 

Also, who says that it has to start with major changes? It is way easier to make small habits and build off of them. You will feel much more accomplished and less stressed if you just take it one step at a time and always push yourself to take that one step. Big goals are great, but a big goal with no plan, steps, or checkpoints is easy to give up on or get off track. When creating a big goal, plan out some steps of exactly how you are going to get there. No one can go from not walking to running a sub 5-minute mile in a day. Figure out what you have to do to build yourself to your goal. 

Can't think of any new goals or resolutions? Try starting to think about what you value most in life. The most common goals or resolutions I see are fitness and wellness based, but they do not have to be! Maybe there is someone special in your life that you would like to spend more time with. You can make it your goal to set "X" amount of time to spend with that person, or even set specifics of what you would like to do with your time. This kind of goal shows that you value that relationship. If you value learning or experiences, you can set a goal to learn or experience something completely new. Basing your goals off of your values is one of the best ways to find happiness.

A common theme in New Year's Resolutions is bettering yourself. We are all complex individuals with many ways to describe who we are. We can be employees, friends, significant others, siblings, athletes, and much more. If we narrow down what exactly we want to better about ourselves, then we have a much better chance of accomplishing it. We can start with the first example and set a very specific starting point. For example: I want to be a better employee, and I will start this by asking if any of my team members need any help when I am not busy. Then all I have to do is make a conscious effort to do this every chance I get. Before long, it becomes just a habit of who I am as an employee, and a lot of times these habits translate into other areas of our lives as well. 

The key to accomplishing goals and resolutions is building good habits. You can start or restart these habits at any time; you don't need a new year to go by. 

I have this note on my desk that says: "I'll start tomorrow" will turn into "I should have started yesterday", and this is why I START TODAY. 

So go out there, start your habits today, and accomplish your goals and dreams!

-Nick Leehy