Making your New Year resolution a year long change!

When I think of the term New Years resolution, I link it to an association with a goal to keep healthy, eat well and exercise more. New gym memberships, meal plans and practicing being ‘healthy’ is generally on the agenda for most people during the New Year period. These are all amazing focus points to help bring a positive effect into 2018, however, for how long will they stay in place and keep you motivated?

Have you ever made a new years resolution for yourself, only to find that 4 weeks later it has gone out the window? I sure have. Generally this occurs because our resolutions are made and forgotten about  during this busy period. This year though we want to help you change that and add some extra tips to help keep you on track to achieve and commit to some massive changes in the upcoming year.

Let’s examine the word ‘healthy’ for a new years resolution. If I said in 2018 I want to be a healthier version of myself, what would this consist of? What steps are you willing to take to ensure you can become this healthier model of yourself?

We make goals which have achievable outcomes, and once we have completed these outcomes we have reached a milestone, a milestone that when completed we can set our sights onto the next goal and strive for continued greatness. Although when it comes to being healthy, what defines health is different from person to person, thus it is hard to label "being healthy" as a realistic New Years goal. Instead the focus should pertain to more achievable health relevant goals that in the long run will benefit the overall status of your own health. Examples of this could include taking time out of every day so that you can focus on you, Arianna Huffington of the Huffington post places a large emphasis on spending time every day to look after herself. Allowing her mind and body to relax after a long day puts her in the perfect mindset to go out and achieve the following day. Health is an all rounded experience, taking the time out to focus on your mental health can have huge benefits on your overall wellbeing. 

Another achievable task is one that many of the worlds most successful people swear by to help them stay on top of their game. Exercising daily, or even 2-3 times per week can help you stay focused and achieve your goals in the New Year, increasing your exercise load or even beginning to work out can boost overall mood and help lead to mental clarity, as well as a stronger desire to do more. 

Once we start to tick off these small milestones and make small changes to become the best version of yourself we begin to notice the positive changes that these small lifestyle modifications can bring. 

But how about we look at this in another light. The word ‘value’ is used to describe something that you hold high importance to. For example, some of my values in life are happiness, good work ethic and respect. The interesting thing about values are the fact that we cannot complete them, they are on going and part of the core of who you are as a person. They exist not as the destination, but the journey we partake on each and every day. You keep them in the back of your mind and they influence your decisions and actions in life regardless of if you are consciously focusing on them or not.

This year, what if instead of creating a new years resolution, we created a new years value. Creating value in your ambitions will subconsciously help you shift from a motivated mindset to an inspired one, you will be more likely to stick to your goals and complete them one by one. 

Start off specific, the more specific the steps you take are, the more thought out and well planned your orientation will be, steer clear of the broad goals of "getting healthy" or "being happier", get down to the bones of these concepts. Possibly start with running 5km without stopping before January is over, or taking up some mindfulness practice daily to help edge closer to that goal of mental well being.

Sound like a good plan? 

We look forward to joining you again on another journey that will be this year, we hope you are as excited to make 2018 yours and our best year yet! 

Happy New Year from the whole BCNC team!