selves this year, and within a month most people will have quit. The top resolutions are to loose weight, spend more time with family and eat healthier. Who doesn't want these, well most of us do, but do we know how to achieve them? Are we expecting the results within a day or two of our new routine?
With resolutions we have to remember that they are goals. The best way to set a goal is to make it realistic but challenging, measurable, and have a why! Here is an example, I want to loose 20 lbs by the end of the year, by exercising 5 days a week, and eating better by tracking my food and calories, because I would like to fit better in my close be more active with my kids and have more energy. So I have my end goal in mind, how I plan to do this and why. Now that is a big goal, so lets break it down so we don't get discouraged when after a week we haven't lost 20 lbs. Over 12 months it breaks down to 1.6lbs per month!!! How doable is that!!! So all I have to do is loose a little over a pound in each month, well this seams really easy now right! Let's break it down even more, I need to loose .38lbs per week. Now this seems almost too easy right. So now we have the goal, we have broken it down, and we need to get to work. Lay out a plan each night that allows you to keep to your goal. So maybe tonight I will lay out my running clothes, and go prep my meals for the next day so that when I am tempted to snack I already have a healthy option available that is easy. Also remember to reward yourself with little prizes along the way, when you hit milestones as this continues your motivation.
So I love goal setting. I usually set yearly, monthly, and weekly goals for myself. So here are my New Years Resolutions.
Read 10 min a day with a goal of reading 25 books a year or 2 books a month. I love personal development books, so that is usually my book of choice, but I think reading is so important. My child is supposed to read for 20 min a day as part of his homework, so really 10 minutes isn't that much. I want to read because I want to learn more and continue to be a better version of myself.
Loose 10lbs before swimsuit season, by exercising 5 days a week, and monitoring my food intake and counting calories and cutting back on sugar. I want to feel better, have more energy and fit in my clothes better. I want to tone up so nothing jiggles too much.
Quit drinking soda. It is just plain not good for me, and I feel better when I don't have it. I will do this by first having a drink of water or even flavored water when I am thirsty. If I still want the coke after a big glass of water I will allow myself to splurge for the first little while but pretty soon after going without it starts to not taste as good. My goal is to go a full consecutive month without any soda by the end of the year.
Spend 20 quality one on one minutes with each of my kids per day focusing on them and their needs doing something interactive. Being a Mom is hard work, and I feel that sometimes my focus gets split between things I need to get done, things I want to get done and all 3 kids. There are times when I feel like I haven't spent much quality time with my kids so I want to make a goal to do it daily so that I am not only building a relationship with them, but I am making sure their needs are met.
Pay off all our debt. During college we took out student loans, I wouldn't advise doing this. We are now 7 years past graduation and I feel like we haven't even put a dent in the loans. It's my goal to have all our debt excepting our home paid off within the year. I want this because it would be nice to have the freedom to do more of what I want with our money and plan for retirement instead of having to pay bills. I have set out a budget and plan to stick to it. I will set aside time at the beginning of each month to review our previous months budget, and plan for the next month. I have been listening to the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University CD's which I love!!! His recommendation is to get $1000 in the bank in savings (which we had), then to get all your debt except the house paid off. So that is the step we are working on right now. This kit that I bought comes with a software to help with your budget and plan. I highly recommend anything by Dave Ramsey, I have read and listened to several books and CD's and have been highly impressed.
I would love to hear some of your resolutions or goals, and I would love to know what you are going to do to achieve them. I will be revisiting this in a month or so to see how your doing so we can support each other. That is another important part of goal setting, make your goals known so that you are held accountable and you are more likely to reach them! Happy New Years Everyone. Let's make 2014 the best year yet!
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