Well the end of another year has come. Time to start fresh in another year. And many of us have New Year’s resolutions to help us make the New Year a better one. I usually make New Year’s resolutions but for one reason or another I fail to keep them. This year I decided to look up the most popular New Year’s resolutions and some resolution tips to help me stay on track this year.

After looking around I started to notice a theme with New Year’s Resolutions (or NYR as I will call them). There seems to be 3 main categories for the resolutions: health, money, and personal improvement. The top ten NYR are:

  • lose weight
  • quit smoking/drinking
  • fall in love
  • get organized
  • learn something exciting
  • do more to help others
  • do more to help the environment
  • stay less stressed
  • spend more time at home/with the family
  • eat better

Most of us will make at least one resolution one this list. However, it is easy to fall out of them well before they become a habit. I am guilty of this almost every year! So this year I decided to find some ways to make resolutions I could actually stick to.

Instead of making specific resolutions with extremely lofty goals like lose a bunch of weight or save $2000, I decided to make goals that I could grow on once they became a habit. I also decided to make some simple resolutions that may not be hard to hit, but they are good for me (and could be good for you too) on many levels. Aside from being good for me, being smaller and more attainable, they make me feel like I accomplished something, giving me more motivation to work on bigger goals.

I also read that with resolutions it is easy to feel like we are limiting ourselves because we are taking things away like getting rid of excess sugar or spending less time in front of the TV/Computer. Because of this it might help to add resolutions that add something to your life. For example, you may want to add something healthy to your meals instead of taking away the sweets every time. Or make a resolution to add 10 minutes of listening to your favorite music to the end of your day to help you de-stress.

After all making resolutions is about trying to make you better. If you make yourself feel bad in the process, or add additional negative factors, is it really worth it?

So here are my resolutions for 2014. I hope everyone has a GREAT year!

Jordan’s 2014 resolutions:

  • lose 5 pounds (with this resolution, if I lose the 5 pounds, I can add to it and feel even more accomplished)
  • Take 2-3 minutes every day to just breathe (something small that can help get me relax)
  • Go Unplugged 5 hours in one day each week (just some time for me and those around me to help me reconnect with me)
  • Learn something new about the people in my life (and not just their favorite snack or color but something that helps me connect with them)
  • Learn something new skill wise (I want to learn something in either in one of my hobbies or my career)
  • Take 5-10 minutes to center myself each night before bed (to help me become a more relaxed person and get better sleep)
  •  Enjoy the time I have with those around me regardless of how other aspects of life are going (kind of a leave the stress at the door policy. Our time together is short I want to try to enjoy it as much as possible!)

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