Most resolutions tend to look something like these:
– save more/spend less
– get fit/lose weight
– devote more time to creative projects and things we love, but have fallen out of the habit of doing
– quit a bad habit (smoking and binge drinking seem to be two biggies)
– spend more time with family and friends
I think the trick to not breaking resolutions is to not aim too high at first. Especially if you’re trying to tackle a few different areas, I think decision fatigue is likely a major culprit of why good intentions fall by the wayside. Decision fatigue happens when you start making easier choices (aka. falling back into old habits) as you encounter more decisions throughout the day or when you’re making more conscious decisions in any area of your life.
Say you resolve to bring a lunch to work every day, which involves having the food ready beforehand, preparing and packaging it, remembering to take it in the morning, then staying strong and actually eating it when your coworkers parade past with their delicious take-out options. That’s a lot of willpower you’re expending on lunch, making it far more likely you’ll break down and grab pad thai for dinner. Girl, I feel you – this is pretty much my life story.
So here are some little suggestions I have for you to make some goals easier for you to accomplish at first. I’m going to focus on the first three, since they ring close to home for me.
1. Use Mint.com
I am really terrible with money. I didn’t used to be back in high school when I managed to save up for a few vacations, pay a cell phone bill every month and indulge in a whole new wardrobe on a pretty paltry retail employee’s paystub. I think I was far better at delaying gratification than I am now, plus there were a whole lot fewer expenses generally. But now, I fritter away money without even realizing it. So a few months ago, I signed up for Mint.
Mint streams all the information from your various bank accounts into one neatly designed little system. There are a lot of things it can do—help create budgets, find you lower interest credit cards, etc.—but that’s not what I’m suggesting you do. For now, just stream your accounts in and keep your transactions list updated. If you use cash, spend five minutes at the end of every day and enter all your cash purchases and their categories too.
At the end of the month, you’ll have a pretty good idea of where your money’s going. When I first did this, I didn’t realize I had an $80 per month Starbucks habit. I didn’t realize I was spending more on food than I was on rent. I didn’t know! And yet I had made all of these decisions, every one.
The important thing this gives you is a backup check – every money decision you make throughout the day, you’re going to have to face again when you categorize it. I found this was really helpful for getting me to question my purchases, and it helped me make better choices once I had set up budgets in the system. I now have $50 dedicated to coffee shops per month and when I’m nearing the 30th and my balance is getting low, I tend to choose a brewed cuppa rather than a latte. Simple awareness of your actions will help you become a lot better at saving.
2. Find an activity you love
I am not an active person. I am the laziest schmo to ever laze upon a couch. There was one day over this holiday break that I didn’t even leave my bed – I just marathoned The Wire and got delivery and knit. I’ve been this way my whole life, and I’m not even embarrassed by it.
But I’ve started taking a ballet class. It’s a drop-in one on that starts late enough on Saturday mornings so I can sleep in, and I love it. For an hour and a half, I practice poise and I stretch and I bend and I jump. I forget myself and just move. I’m not particularly good, but it’s an hour and a half of activity per week that I wouldn’t be getting otherwise. Afterward, I go eat greasy diner breakfast with Laura and it’s pretty much perfection.
So here are some little suggestions I have for you to make some goals easier for you to accomplish at first. I’m going to focus on the first three, since they ring close to home for me.
1. Use Mint.com
I am really terrible with money. I didn’t used to be back in high school when I managed to save up for a few vacations, pay a cell phone bill every month and indulge in a whole new wardrobe on a pretty paltry retail employee’s paystub. I think I was far better at delaying gratification than I am now, plus there were a whole lot fewer expenses generally. But now, I fritter away money without even realizing it. So a few months ago, I signed up for Mint.
 |
| mint.com |
At the end of the month, you’ll have a pretty good idea of where your money’s going. When I first did this, I didn’t realize I had an $80 per month Starbucks habit. I didn’t realize I was spending more on food than I was on rent. I didn’t know! And yet I had made all of these decisions, every one.
The important thing this gives you is a backup check – every money decision you make throughout the day, you’re going to have to face again when you categorize it. I found this was really helpful for getting me to question my purchases, and it helped me make better choices once I had set up budgets in the system. I now have $50 dedicated to coffee shops per month and when I’m nearing the 30th and my balance is getting low, I tend to choose a brewed cuppa rather than a latte. Simple awareness of your actions will help you become a lot better at saving.
2. Find an activity you love
I am not an active person. I am the laziest schmo to ever laze upon a couch. There was one day over this holiday break that I didn’t even leave my bed – I just marathoned The Wire and got delivery and knit. I’ve been this way my whole life, and I’m not even embarrassed by it.
But I’ve started taking a ballet class. It’s a drop-in one on that starts late enough on Saturday mornings so I can sleep in, and I love it. For an hour and a half, I practice poise and I stretch and I bend and I jump. I forget myself and just move. I’m not particularly good, but it’s an hour and a half of activity per week that I wouldn’t be getting otherwise. Afterward, I go eat greasy diner breakfast with Laura and it’s pretty much perfection.
 |
| Saturday mornings, like clockwork. (image via) |
So maybe hold off on buying a gym membership for now, and just find a thing that you like to do. Maybe it’s a dance class that you go to once a week. Maybe it’s yoga. Maybe it’s a local sports league—I know some people who have fun at their weekly soccer game, and another friend plays baseball and drinks beers with her teammates afterward. Or maybe it’s just a walk you make a part of your routine—schedule a powerwalk with your ipod and Kanye to your favourite out-of-the-way coffee hole on a Saturday morning.
My point is, finding an activity you like to do and then finding an hour to do it is a pretty good way to start getting fit. You may not notice a huge difference right away, but it’s a fun way to make activity a more routine part of your life, and will make it easier should you choose to be more active in the future.
3. Schedule some creative time
Too often, we can get sucked into timesinks that don't give us much for our attenion, especially with us being a web-savvy bunch. The worst for me are Pinterest and Tumblr, where I can spend hours looking at beautiful things and thinking, “I could make that,” without spending any of my time actually trying to make that.
So give yourself some time—just an hour even, but it’s best if it’s an evening or an afternoon per week—and work on that thing you love and never seem to have time for. If you like finding music, go to a local show or do dedicated, thorough listen to a new album. If photography’s your thing, spend that time exploring the details of your neighbourhood or head out somewhere new, where you’ve got fresh eyes. If you’re a writer, write something that’s just for you, something that feels good and surprises you. Have a set reading or movie watching time. For me, right now, it’s spending time making jewelry, getting ready to open up an online shop (iieee, it feels weird to even say! Details to come soon!).
Stop focusing on your past or what others might think of what you’re up to: this space is a date with your inner creative self. This space doesn’t have room for anyone else’s opinions (and it shouldn’t even have space for your own), it’s just for you to actually DO. You need to give your creative side some room to play if you’re ever going to get any better at your thing. It doesn’t matter if what you’re creating isn’t living up to what you’d like it to be—that’s what that space is for: practice.
Well, kittens, here’s wishing you good luck. Change can be hard, but making small changes can be the strongest steps toward realizing your goals.
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