Wow! I cannot believe that January is already over. Earlier this week, I set up a meeting for Friday and looked at my calendar and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Friday didn’t have a number on it. Then I woke up on January 30th and was still in shock that we were already to the thirties! It certainly does not feel like a whole month has gone by in 2018! So lets evaluate (you should go get a pen and paper if you’re serious about this):
1. What were your New Year’s Resolutions? 2018 Goals? Etc.
2. Did you give up on any of your resolutions or goals? Did you alter any? Did you adapt any to your needs?
3. What are you going to do differently in February to achieve your goals?
This year, I focused my resolutions (really goals) on the whole year, rather than something that I could do and feel accomplished and check it off the list and forget about it and make the same goal over again in 2019. One recurring goal that I had this year was to save more money. This year, I took the weekly savings approach where you save the dollar amount equal to the week from $1 to $52. I schedule automatic transfers from my checking account to my savings account every Friday. At the end of the year, these savings equal $1,378. This is on top of the saving I already do directly from my paycheck. Another goal that I had, which I am sure a lot of people have, is weight loss. This year is different for me because I am prepping for a wedding and I want to look AMAZING in my dress. Mind you, the dress already looks great on me. But I know that I will benefit from the added confidence that weight loss can bring me. Thus far, I have lost five pounds in January alone and I am well on my way to a better me.
A new resolution that I tried this year was to set a daily goal every month. In January, my goal was healthy eating. Coming off the holidays always leaves me feeling like crap and eating like crap. This year was particularly hard because at some point in December before I even started my holiday I upped my calorie intake. This meant, that even when I was trying to eat in moderation I was always hungry. I was able to push myself past that in January by using a meal plan that consciously made me eat fewer calories and a higher percent of protein. I successfully stuck to my healthy eating goal (determined by calorie and macronutrient intake) 25 out of 31 days in January. Some people may look at that number and see a 6-day failure, but they were never consecutive days and that equates to less than one full week of the month, which is amazing. (PS: If you want to know more about that meal plan I mentioned, check out my post about my vegan week experience here).
In February, my daily goal is meditation/mindfulness. Daily meditation is something I was trying to get into before bed back in December, and it just didn’t stick. I am hoping that having the daily goal with the conscious reminder that this is something I said I would do and should be holding myself accountable for will help me achieve my goal. Accountability is something I have blogged about in the past, particularly in the context of fitness (check it out!), and it is something that I believe strongly in. Your accountability might come from a physical space, or a person, whereas for me right now my accountability is making my bullet journal look pretty by successfully accomplishing my goals each day. I never lie, and I truly evaluate things that could be left open ended. (e.g. One of my goals is to read every day. 10 minutes or 10 pages is the standard. Reading one page does not count, nor does merely opening the book and leaving it open in front of me).
I really love the exercise of evaluating where you stand with your resolutions after one month. It is never too late for a fresh start, and you may realize after trying something that it isn’t actually what you wanted. That’s okay too, the important thing is that you are aware that what you thought and what you discovered are different, and you know how to move forward. Feel free to drop fun or classic resolutions in the comments below. I want to see what everybody is working towards this year!
Happy dream chasing!
She’s Got a Whole PhD 