I'm being smart about resolutions this year!

Well the New Year is upon us and isn’t it a wonderful time of year; that feeling of a fresh start, those ‘New Year; New Me’ statuses on Facebook, and all those tanned selfies!

I love it that everyone gets into setting New Years resolutions, but I do sometimes wonder if people realise that the start of the year isn’t the only time you can set goals…?

Resolutions end up getting quite a bit of bad rep because people set huge goals, with a year-long timeframe and then wonder why they can’t commit to them. I’m definitely guilty of setting some pretty big resolutions and starting off with a hiss and a roar, only to fall on my face and fail miserably a few months later. This cycle is one that seems to repeat itself and is one that isn’t very good for our confidence, resilience, and overall happiness!

I’ve decided this year to break my resolutions down into smaller ‘bite sized chunks’ which are easily evaluated and achieved, in order to make a more sustainable and long term change. I’m setting long term, medium term and short term goals to make sure I’m stretching myself towards a big dream, but then taking smaller steps and changing every day habits in order to achieve this big goal.

I’ve found that one of the best ways to stay committed to a goal is to tell people about it; people who ultimately hold you accountable and push you to do what you’ve said you will (as annoying as that is when you don’t feel like a run but you’ve committed to 45 minutes of exercise 5 days a week… and it’s already a Sunday and you’ve only exercised 4 days this week)!

You don’t have to tell the world but tell a few good friends or family members, and ask them to hit you up about your progress occasionally, you’ll thank them for it later!

So get goal setting people, it’s 2015 and the opportunities are endless! What do you want to be doing with your life in 6 months, a year or event 2 years time? And what steps can you be taking today to make that happen?