I love making new years resolutions, I often set resolutions for myself throughout the year, however the start of a new year is a really good time to assess what you want to improve in your life, and make resolutions to achieve that. This year, i've decided to look at things a bit differently - I'll be setting goals and targets for myself, instead of making resolutions. I don't mean to sound pedantic, but I do think there is a genuine and significant difference between 'goals' and 'resolutions'.
Did you ever have to do SMART targets in college? I know I did, and they seemed like such a pain at the time, but looking at it now I can see that they're actually a really useful and effective tool in setting targets. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Timely (within a time frame). I shall be setting goals for myself this way, so instead of having one of my resolutions to simply be 'read more books', I'm going to set myself the target of reading one new book a month. That way I have a specific target - one new book - within a specific time frame - each month. It's easy to measure and in my view one book a month is an attainable and realistic goal. Do you see what I mean?
Read at least one new book each month.
I know I don't read enough, I love reading but I never make the time for it. Almost every year I tell myself 'read more' but its never been specific enough to actually make a difference. I think reading one new book a month is a good goal that I can stick too. My reading list so far includes Thursdays in the Park by Hilary Boyd, The Mouseproof Kitchen by Saira Shah, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Yes Please by Amy Poehler, amongst many many others. Ideally I'd like to start reviewing the books I read too, but we'll see about that, one step at a time.
Sleep Earlier, Rise Earlier
In bed by 11, asleep by midnight. Out of bed before 9.30, ideally before 9.
I often find myself staying up late for no reason, especially living away from home, I find I easily lose track of time and end up watching YouTube videos until 1am. Then I'll sleep in the next morning until 11 or 12 and be angry at myself for wasting the morning. However, you get into a routine, and the following night I wont be tired until 1am again, and so the vicious cycle continues. I want to get into a good routine this year. I know that the earlier I go to sleep, the earlier I can get up. I enjoy being up early, but I enjoy my sleep too and I'm the type of person who needs at least 8 hours to function properly. So this year, other than nights out and a well deserved lie in here and there, normally I want to be in bed by 11, asleep by 12. And in the morning I want to be up and out of bed by 9.30, ideally by 9am.
Study More
At least 1 hour of work 6 days a week.
Study more, or get better at doing uni work seems to be another resolution that I set every year. So again, this year I making a specific goal for myself - to do at least 1 hour of study 6 out of 7 days of the week. Easily attainable and realistic right? We'll see.
Try New Recipes
Try at least 1 new recipe each month.
I love food, and I really do enjoy cooking. I love watching cooking programs and reading cooking books, and I always tell myself I'm going to try all these delicious looking recipes, but unfortunately I can be very lazy, and often tend to stick to things that are easy, and things that I know well. But i do really want to expand my repertoire and improve my cooking skills. So again, we have a SMART target - 1 new recipe per month. To me that's very realistic (considering my laziness) and should be attainable. New recipes and dishes are another thing I'd like to post about on here, but I need to actually get cooking them first!
Become More Flexible in Yoga
Achieve putting my heels down in 'down dog', and being able to hold my feet in 'deep forward fold'.
'Get more flexible' is another one that seems to be constantly on my resolution list. I've recently started doing yoga fairly regularly (2-3 times a week, something that I'm loving and aiming to continue) and these two poses are two that I particularly want to achieve. They're only small goals, nothing particularly spectacular about putting your heels down in down dog, but they still represent big achievements for me. I would rather start small and achieve them within 6 months, than set myself a big goal that would be really hard to achieve in a year - such as being able to do the splits comfortably, which is the ultimate goal, but again, one step at a time is the best way to go.
Be Able to do a Headstand
Be able to comfortably hold a yoga headstand unsupported.
I think this one pretty much speaks for itself... I just really want to be able to do a headstand haha and I have a fear of being upside down, so I would love to conquer that at the same time.
What are your goals for 2015?
xo
