How to make New Year's resolutions that actually work

It’s officially 2020 and you know what that means…a million recap posts and New Year's resolutions have popped up on all your social media feeds.

I have to be honest…I have a complicated relationship with New Year's resolutions.  Up until 2018 I never made them, I didn’t understand why suddenly in January we all decided we were going to change our entire lives….for about two weeks before almost everyone falls back into their old ways.  Something like only 10 percent of people achieve their New Year's resolutions, so I just never really saw the point. If I wanted to make a change I could just as easily set goals in April or September. 

Then, about two years ago in one of my acting classes, my teacher talked about the power of resolutions and creating vision boards.  That setting concrete goals and seeing them in front of you every single day help transform your ideas into reality. She told us about a bunch of success stories.  So in 2018, I made a vision board.

The problem is I felt like a lot of the goals I set were out of my hands. Such as, I can prepare as much as I want for auditions, be in classes, get coached, but at the end of the day whether or not I get the part isn’t really something I can control. It seemed hard to track progress for these goals and ultimately I don’t think the vision board really helped me.

However, I get the idea and like it, so this year I’m making my New Year's Resolutions differently. I’m doing something that has already worked for me, something that has helped me make positive changes in my life.  Instead of big overarching goals that I can’t control, I’m working towards smaller, achievable things, that will ultimately form the building blocks to accomplish those larger goals I dream of. 

It’s easy to get overly ambitious with New Year's resolutions. New year, new me and all that.  And don’t get me wrong, it’s great to want more for yourself and strive to achieve that, but I think real change happens in the small moments. It’s the mundane every day changes and choices that shape your life.  Setting your alarm an hour earlier and going for a jog 3 times a week, reading to learn about something your passionate about every night instead of mindlessly watching Friends for the 200th time, or setting aside an hour a week for self reflection and self care. It's the small acts that turn into habits and help shape your life that make the biggest impact. And hey, if you achieve those small goals and want to challenge yourself more in a few months, GO FOR IT. It's not really about the New Years Resolutions anyways. It's about finding a way to get back on track after the craziness of the holidaze and reflect on what worked last year and what you want to improve on.

So this year I am setting attainable goals that are fully in my power to achieve. For my first one? I'm going to try my hardest to post one blog a week, bare minimum once every other week. My resolution is not to grow my readership or page views or anything like that, because I don't control those things. What I can control is putting the work in consistently, pushing myself, and not allowing my perfectionism to stop me from posting.

I’m putting it on here so I really have no choice but to follow through!  Stay tuned for the rest of my resolutions, I will be making a vision board for 2020 and will post that in a few weeks.

So think, what are your resolutions this year? Do they inspire you to work harder every day? Are they realistic? Have you changed them up if resolutions haven't worked for you in the past? For example, if every year you want to lose 20 pounds and it never happens, this year set a resolution to go to the gym 3 times a week, or meal prep healthy food on Sundays! Or if you hate resolutions, just look at what in your life is and isn't working, then take steps to improve.

There’s no better time to change your life than today (not tomorrow, not next Monday, not oops I already messed up my resolutions, might as well start next year) no, today.  It doesn’t matter that it’s January 7th or February or midnight on a Tuesday in August. If you want to see results, make those subtle but incredibly important changes and remember you can adjust and re-evaluate your goals as you go.