Resolutions are a pain in the butt.

I know plenty of people who say yearly resolutions don’t work or doing them once a year is a set up for failure, but I don’t think so. I think we tend to attack them in ginormous chunks, so either our resolutions are too broad with no specific goals;

Example: In 2014 I will lose weight!

or we have specific goals that are not manageable:

Example: In 2014 I will lose 200 pounds!

I enjoy setting and reaching goals, and I LOVE having a plan to do them. A plan makes the impossible possible! These big “resolutions” I don’t do at the beginning of the year. I start thinking about them around this time and they often turn into something, but as my specific New Years Resolution? No.

A couple of years ago I approached this whole resolution thing differently. I went small. Really small.

2 years ago I resolved to wear ear rings every day. BOOM Success! 90% of the time my ears are adorn with jewellery and are happy.

Last year I resolved to keep my finger nails painted, by me and not paying someone else to do it. BOOM Success! This one actually was a bit harder but 90% of the year my nails looked respectable and I was pleased.

Green is my favourite

This year will still be a small goal, but a bit tougher again. I resolve to drink the 4L of water a day I need to in order to have happy hydrated powerlifting muscles and keep all my systems running as they should!

Drink Me

Yes all these resolutions are small but they are manageable and doable on a day to day basis. Life throws you curve balls and the BIG plans falter and get pushed aside, but a small daily goal can often be the one piece of success in an other wise horrific day. That one tiny success can often be what keeps you moving towards the bigger goals, reminds you that you CAN that you WILL that you ARE putting all the pieces together one baby step at a time.

10 years ago I went through a horrific experience that left me emotionally destroyed.  My steps out of that and back into a functioning person happened fairly quickly. At the time I had other friends going through similar things that didn’t fair as well in the recovery process. People often inquire how I did it. The answer to that is long and had many facets but one of the things that helped immensely was small doable daily goals. Some days those goals were as simple as rearranging the cutlery drawer or buying new perfume but they  reminded me that I could do something, successfully.  This is where the idea of the smaller New Year Resolution was born.

This year I challenge you to a simple resolution. Something that you want to do, that always nags in the back of your mind but you never make the time. Something you know is doable.  Give yourself that success and enjoy it all year.

Happy New Year! All the best in 2014!