I’m going to start this blog with quite a controversial confession:

“I love people talking about New Year resolutions.”

Ah yes I agree, I roll my eyes a little every time someone gives me the ‘New Year, New Me’ spiel. However, seeing people initially approach the New Year with such excitement and energy is fantastic. Especially if you’re like me (which I’m sure you are) in a sense that you love seeing your family and friends heading in a positive direction. It’s shame people don’t always display this new lease of life throughout the year, but I guess that’s what makes New Year special.

I personally don’t make New Year resolutions or when I do, I don’t usually stick by them. This is because they’re usually unrealistic or unmeasurable. So this year I thought I would start the year with a different approach, instead of setting resolutions, I would create goals for myself. I thought I’d share how I’m doing this if you wanted some inspiration any time of year, or check up on how I’m actually keeping up with mine — hopefully bossing it!

Goals are similar to resolutions BUT…

Goals are targets, if you set a goal it’s good practice to think about the mini goals you’ll need to complete the main goal. These mini goals will help make the overall goal be achievable and realistic. For example, if your goal is to eat less meat in the New Year, maybe to start with two meat free days per week, once you’ve achieved this goal to a level, you’ll be raring to go for your next step.

Keep checking in on yourself

Add and change goals throughout the year. I bet the July version of you will have different priorities to your present self. And that’s ok! It also means you’re not just waiting for the New Year to refresh and being ready to always throw energy into your goals.

It’s ok to fail

Life gets in the way. It’s inevitable, there’s always going to be obstacles and busy times that you didn’t plan for. Although, if you’re consistently failing your goals, maybe you need to figure out why; do you need to readjust them? Are you taking them seriously?

Don’t over complicate

Overcomplicating your aims or creating more work for yourself, in terms of measuring your success is a super put-off. Keep it simple! When you set your goal, think about a simple way you will be able to measure your progress in the future.

Have a great year!

My personal goals are to travel more, save money and get involved with a good cause — These all have mini-goals to help me achieve this, but I won’t bore you with the finer details. Remember to not get too caught up in goals, the fact that you’re thinking about how to create a great year is step one to achieving what you want. The most important part of the year is living! So have fun and wishing you the best success for the year ahead.

What are your goals or resolutions for 2017? Do you have another method? Or do you hate goal setting & resolutions? We’d love to know your thoughts or any tips and tricks. Let us know in the comments below.