Positive Habits for the New Year

Hands writing "positive habits" on a notepad

As we roll into 2020, many of us will make a list of our New Year’s Resolutions, excited and motivated that this time you’ll stick to them and achieve the goals you’ve outlined.

And most of you will fail.

New Year’s Resolutions comes with the stresses of failure before you even begin. You talk yourself out of it on the first day.

I’m hungover. I’ll start tomorrow.

I have a party this weekend I’ll start on Monday.

I can’t because…

I’m waiting for... before I start.

And then you beat yourself up for not following through.

And since it’s a New Year’s Resolution, you only have one shot at it—that’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself!

CREATE NEW HABITS INSTEAD

I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions and have never made one. What I am a fan of is making commitments to myself for creating new habits. Notice I said creating new habits and not changing a bad habit?

Changing a bad habit already is a negative mindset. You’re telling yourself that you need to change something bad about you. THERE IS NOTHING BAD ABOUT YOU!

Creating new habits starts with a positive mindset and it sets you up for success. And you can do this throughout the year, not just when the new year comes around.

To make the shift from making New Year’s Resolutions to creating new habits, (notice this is not in caps as the lower case makes it not so daunting!), take some of your larger goals and break them up into smaller steps that are easily obtainable.

For instance, if you want to lose 10 pounds, instead of a making a new years resolution that you will start a new diet and go to the gym 3 days a week, create this new habits list:

• All my snacks will be healthy choices like fruits or nuts.

• I will take a 20-minute walk after lunch.

• I will reach 5000 steps per day.

• I will stop eating 3 hours before bedtime.

You may not reach your goal weight in two months, however, you are more likely to keep these habits over the long term and in 6 months you may lose 15 pounds. A healthy body should be your goal and not the weight loss.

STAY ON TRACK

To stay on track, ask for support and guidance.

• Spiritual Support: In prayers, ask positive questions such as “please give me the discipline to maintain my healthy habit of eating healthy snacks,”or “show me ways that I can continue to be motivated to continue this new habit.”

• Family & Friends: Tell your family and friends about your new habits and ask them to join you on walks, or to not push you to share in a pint of ice cream just before bedtime!

• Other Tools: Set reminders on your calendar, write post-it notes by the pantry, throw out your unhealthy foods, subscribe to apps and newsletters to support your goals, etc.

MY POSITIVE HABITS

Here are some new habits I’ve committed to in recent years that I continue with that you may want to try!

Mind

• While I get ready for work, I listen to a positive and motivational podcast.

• On the drive to work I listen to positive energetic music or a meditation.

• On the drive home from work I listen to a meditation or positive podcast to decompress so I am ready to reconnect with my family.

Check out The Gathering Share for some inspiration.

Body

• Breakfast is an important part of my day, so I make a quick smoothie, egg & spinach sandwich or an apple with almond butter and eat before I leave the house. These recipes take just 5 minutes to make!

• Walk the dogs after dinner in the summer

• Walk the mall after dinner when it’s cold outside

Check out Recipes for these healthy recipes and more.

Emotions

• When I’m angry or frustrated, I work through the Understanding My Expectations worksheet to identify where the emotion is coming from.

• Journal through the sticky issues.

• I practice mindfulness to distance myself from my emotions and see things from a new perspective.

Check out Mindful Shifts and Health for these blogs plus more ideas for working through your emotions.

AVOID TIME COMMITMENTS

Notice I don’t commit to how often I do them. This allows me to not beat myself up and then give up if I didn’t meet whatever fictional time frame I gave them. And if a new habit doesn’t work for me, I throw it out and come up with a new one—anytime of the year!

SHIFT YOUR MINDSET

Make this year about new beginnings. Say No! to New Year’s Resolutions and get started on creating your own list of new habits. When you create your list from a positive mindset, you’ll look back in 6 months and see how easy it was to achieve your goals.