Get Ready, Set Goals & Go into the New Year!

Christmas is over and New Year’s Day is upon us. People the world over are reflecting on the past year, preparing celebrations for New Year’s Eve and dreaming up New Year’s resolutions and goals for the coming 12 months.

Not only will this be the start of a new year, 2020. But it is also the start of a new decade! Wowsers! Can you remember what you were doing 10 years ago? A helluva lot can happen in 10 years!!! Can you remember even 20 years ago, when it was a new year, a new decade and a new millennium all wrapped up in one fateful night? (Remember the much-feared Y2K bug that was surely going to bring the world to it’s knees… but then didn’t?!?).

New Year’s resolutions are always seen as being this big thing. Another 12 months full of endless possibilities! New year, new beginnings, new habits…

You know, like signing up for a gym membership and then going hard at it for about, um, 3 weeks. And then quitting ☹. Did you know, in December 2018, “exercising more” was the New Year’s resolution for 2019 for 59% of surveyed Americans? And how many then go out and pay for gym memberships that they don’t end up using? Over 5 million! That’s about $1.8 BILLION wasted on wonderful, dreamy, unfulfilled resolutions! **gasp** That really is a insane amount of money! SO many big dreams and cool hard cash wasted.

I find the idea of New Year’s resolutions to be a little bit wishy-washy. Sort of, “I am sure I want to go to the gym more this year” or “I really want to stress less this year”. Admirable ideas? Absolutely! But with no plan behind those vague statements to support your resolutions, it’s no shock when you can’t actually say with clarity at the end of the year that you succeeded. Perhaps making an entire year dependent on some well-meaning resolutions made whilst tipsy on the last day of the year is not the best way to go about reaching your goals in the next one…

Did you make some resolutions last year? Did you stick to them? How did you feel? Or did it not work out how you imagined? And if you didn’t fulfil your resolutions, why not? Did you beat yourself up about it or sweep it under the rug and pretend you never wanted any changes to your life?!?

Review Your Past 12 Months

I’d like to get you to do an exercise, right now, before getting stuck into any last minute plans for the next 12 months. Or possibly before you get stuck into anything bubbly and alcoholic 😉.

Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Sit down, set up a timer for 10 minutes, and write yourself a list of all the great things you DID achieve this past year. Not like: “Well, I said I’d lose 15 kilograms but I only lost 6, so it doesn’t count”. WRONG!  You LOST 6 kilograms! Well done! That IS an achievement. And it belongs on your list! 6 kilograms is more than 0, and if you were planning to lose weight at all it is definitely better than gaining 6 kilograms.

I want you to make a list of at least 10 things. They can be really big things, like “I ran my first half marathon” or “I paid off my car” or “I got a promotion at work”. Or they can be smaller- but not less important!- things, like “I started learning Spanish” or “I baked a turkey for the first time” or “I learned how to change my car tyres”.

If you’re feeling stuck with your list, look, I’ll even share mine first! At the start of the year I actually decided that I would have a Word for the Year: GROWTH. I also set myself some goals for 2019. While I didn’t completely nail all of them, that’s not the point of our exercise here, is it?!? 😉 We are focusing on the brave, cool, interesting, fun, fantastic stuff we DID do this year, remember?!?

Here’s my list of 10 things I am proud of from this past year:

1. I signed up to a gym last month and have been going twice a week (when not sick)
2. I posted consistently, every week, to my Everything’s Famtastic blog.
3. I started creating fun, weekly newsletters for my Everything’s Famtastic subscribers (P.S. You can sign up here too 😉)
4. I learned so many behind-the-scenes tricks (like: embedding code and creating digital forms!) required to make this blog run smoothly.
5. I have enrolled in 2 online courses with amazingly motivating women, designed to help me more effectively and successfully build up and serve you and my Everything’s Famtastic community.
6. I defied my fears and registered for my first ever 5km run next spring (even though I have never, ever run 5km!!).
7. For the first time I successfully sewed zippers into fleece jackets for my youngest daughter and my son.
8. I hiked kilometres underground in a cave system in Slovenia without getting claustrophobic and panicky about being so far under the surface.
9. I was able to say “No” more often when my calendar was already full and my stress levels too high.
10. I spent uncountable “quality time” hours cooking, baking, dancing, sewing, playing games and reading to our 3 children.

So did I grow this past year? Definitely! Is there room for more? Always!

So, once you have written YOUR list, read through it. Whether you started this past year with 0, 1 or 10 New Year’s resolutions, goals, dreams, whatever, I want you to take a look at the great things you have achieved this year! **big round of applause** I am so happy for you! And you don’t need to show anyone this list (although you can of course, if you want to). This list is for YOU. To recognise that no matter what, you are capable of achieving great things.

But Should I Bother Making New Year’s Resolutions?

As mothers, we can be especially hard on ourselves. Look pretty. Stay thin. Keep the kids happy. And fed. Keep the house clean. Make sure the dirty laundry gets dealt with. Urgh, don’t forget your dentist appointment! Or to call your own mother! Get the kids to all of their sports and music lessons and parties and appointments. Give them a magical Christmas. And don’t forget about the school concert! Make sure they are well-behaved. And check their homework. Carry on working hard in your career. And support your husband in his. Buy the groceries and cook Pinterest-worthy meals. Workout 3 times a week. Oh yeah, get enough sleep.

It’s enough to make you want to throw in the towel some days. And then when someone asks about whether you’ve made any New Year’s resolutions… blah! Who’s got time for that?!?

Set Goals for the Next 12 Months

The point is, you DO deserve to have dreams. You ARE allowed to want more from your life. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you are unhappy now. (Or maybe you are…) But imagine how much better you might feel about your life with a few new good habits and goals!

This December, let’s stop calling them New Year’s resolutions and give them a more powerful word: goals. Setting goals for yourself can be scary. A while back I wrote about facing your fears. It means being scared and Doing.It.Anyway. It means you have to hold yourself accountable. Not to anyone else. To YOURSELF. Nobody else will care as much about your dreams and goals as you do. But you do have to decide that you want to achieve them, and start planning how. Break them down into smaller steps so you can recognise when you are making progress. And then Go.For.It!!

So, in the spirit of openness and sharing here is my list of goals for 2020:

1. Participate in my first ever 5km run.
2. Continue working out at the gym twice a week.
3. Earn my first profit through my Everything’s Famtastic blog.
4. Take a long, relaxing bath at least once a month.
5. Enjoy a meat-free, “vegetarian” day once a week.
6. Learn more about how to use social media more effectively.
7. Create more photo books for the kids from the thousands of photos on my laptop.
8. Spend one morning a week sewing.
9. Learn how to crochet a beanie.
10. Go on monthly date nights with Hubby.

And what’s my word for 2020? PERSISTENCE. And I.Am.Excited!

What’s your Word for the Year? What goals have you set yourself for the coming year? Are you excited and ready?!? Share with us below!