Create Resolutions That Last

“New Year, New You!”

We’ve heard this phrase uttered often at the onset of a new year. Folks come up with resolutions and goals at the beginning of new years but are often unable to live up to them.

As we begin to dive back into the school year, you’ve probably come up with a number of new year’s resolutions. Perhaps you’ve resolved to be a better student or to keep up with your homework. But as we all know painfully well, it is easy to lose track of a new goal a few weeks after we start.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Here are some tips on how to make resolutions that last.

1. Set Short-Term Goals

It’s easy to get carried away by the optimism of new beginnings and to set unrealistic goals for ourselves. Think of shorter-term, easily achievable goals to start off with before progressing towards bigger ones. For example, you can set a goal to read at least 10 pages of your favorite book each day. As you get better at meeting these small, short-term goals, you can begin to increase the load as you begin to develop better habits.

2. It’s a Daily Grind

In the same vein as the above tip, take each day as a new challenge and a new opportunity to reach your goals. Even if the day before was not ideal or was filled with disastrous moments, we’re so fortunate to be able to hit the reset button each day and start over! Of course, starting a day well is tied to how we view things, which leads us to the next point.

3. Be Thankful

When you wake up in the morning, take a chance to thank the Lord for all the good things in your life. We all have good things that we can be thankful for in our life, so focus on those things as opposed to the negative things. Surely we’ve all heard the saying, “It’s the little things.” Focus on those little things in your life that bring you joy, and you’ll find that taking on goals and tasks becomes a much happier process.

“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” – Philippians 4:8

We at Southlands have some big goals and big changes happening in 2015. What are your goals?

Thanks for following along, Fam. Here’s to a healthy, productive, and thankful 2015!