Peace of Mind Organizing

Help for your resolutions

18 December 2012

I’m all about goal setting. And I love doing it this time of year. This week and next, I’m working on taking stock of the year, seeing how well I did with the goals I set last year, and setting new ones for the coming year. I create measurable business-related goals.

But what about goals for those little behavioral changes we tend to call new year’s resolutions? Last year, in a blog post called, Goals, not resolutions, I blogged about some habits I was hoping to reinforce in 2012:

2012’s goals

• Putting away my clothes properly every night
• Exercising every morning
• Clearing my email inbox every workday
• Telling my gratitude buddy, Aby Garvey what I’m grateful for each day
• Taking multivitamins, calcium supplements, and fish oil capsules every morning

I’m happy to report that I’ve done really well on the last three. And while I’m not exercising every morning, I joined a gym at the beginning of October and am consistently working out there three times a week.

Putting away my clothes properly every night is still an elusive goal for me. I thought about it this morning when I was getting up. I think a clean sweep of the bureau—taking off everything on it and putting back only the essential items—will be a big help. When the bureau looks junky (as it tends to now with various random things taking up not-so-temporary residence there), putting away my clothes isn’t as rewarding, because there isn’t a broad expanse of clear surface.

I think the key to my success in creating successful habits is that I tend to be really clear about what I’m after. I try to be realistic. And, when I’m most successful, I link a new habit with an established one to create a routine. That makes it become more automatic, which is so helpful.

I’ve given some though to my behavioral goals for 2013 and here’s what I’m going to shoot for.

2013’s goals

• Putting away my clothes properly at night
• Exercising at least three times a week
• Eating more fruits and vegetables
• Establishing a sustainable housecleaning schedule
• Entertaining more often (the fifth goal will support the fourth)

My email inbox, gratitude and vitamin habits are pretty well established, so I’m going to let those drop off the list (though I fully intend to continue doing them).

Having stated these goals out loud by writing them here will help me remember them (which is a big deal when it comes to resolutions) and it will also motivate me to do them. For me, accountability is really powerful. I’ll check in later to see how it’s going!

If you’d like some advice and guidance on getting what you want in the new year, I have a great resource to offer (and a chance to save $5 on it). A few years ago, my friend and life coach Shannon Wilkinson and I created a teleclass called Why Resolutions Don’t Work—and How to Get What You Want Anyway. A year later, we added a workbook to it. It sells for only $19 for both the audio recording of the teleclass and the 24-page workbook based on the content of the audio. But between now and January 15, if you use the coupon code SAVE5, you’ll save $5. So you can get this great resource for only $14. Click here to purchase yours. It could be just what you need to help you create realistic goals for the new year.

Tagged with: clean bureau, email, goals, habits, resolutions, shannon wilkinson

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