Since it is January – officially the longest month ever, that means there is plenty of time for planning, reflection and reviewing.
If you haven’t set your goals for this year yet, here are some ideas to inspire you! Call it new year’s resolution, or simply goals, the purpose is the same: to improve your life and help you become a better person (hopefully).
Here are some simple goals to set for this year’s resolution.
Quit a bad habit
Forming a bad habit is sooo easy.
Just think of how delicious junk food is. It might not be healthy, but who cares about that when the taste is so good? All you have to do is pay and gorge yourself with all that full-of-salt food.
It’s ridiculous how easy it is to form a bad habit and how impossible it seems to break it.
Related: Bad Habits We All Have That Make Our Lives Difficult
Here are some common bad habits you could add to your list:
- smoking
- eat less fat, salty, junk food
- drink less alcohol and fizzy drinks
- stop oversleeping/snoozing
- scrolling through social media for too long
Form a good habit
Of course there had to be the opposite suggestion.
Developing a new (good) habit is more difficult than sticking with a bad one. This is just the law.
While people are debating if 21 days of 60 days are enough to form a new habit, it for sure takes quite a few weeks to make those good things stick around.
Related: 5 Morning Routines You Can Easily Take Up (That Are Not Meditation)
I think you already have a list here: loose weight, eat more healthy, drink more water and so on. Here are some suggestions you might not have think of:
- form a sleeping habit – go to sleep at roughly the same hour every night
- keep in touch with 2-3 old friends throughout the year
- make your health a priority and make sure you check all the health issues you have or those you suspect you could inherit
- have a digital detox a couple of times per year – the more the merrier
- set up a reading challenge – set a certain number of books you’ll want to read by the end of the year – I read 20 last year!
Take up a hobby
We all have a few things we are passionate about but because of lack of time and energy, we don’t do them.
It could be crafting, hiking, driving, painting, photography, or whatever activity that is not related to your day-to-day job.
Practising a hobby is proven to release stress, improve memory and the overall mental state. A hobby helps us unwind from the daily problems that drain us out of energy. It lets our mind relax and have a good time.
There will always be an excuse on-hand to post-pone taking up a hobby: no time, no energy, kids are more important now, no money and you probably know the list. There are endless free (or paid) sources for tutorials and unless you don’t pick and expensive hobby like me (photography) you should be fine.
Create a savings account
It could be for retirement, travel, unexpected bad days or small indulgences every now and then. A savings account is for sure always on hand – who doesn’t need the extra money?!
If you can’t set aside too much, don’t just quit. Add the smallest amount you can – make sure it’s at least 10% of your income. If you made $10 today, add $1 in the savings account or in a jar. It might sound ridiculous, but you’ll be amazed how much you’ll have there over time.
Later on you can separate the money into different accounts: retirement, buffer fund and bad days.
Remember: it’s always good to have some extra money than none at all when needed. Better start early.
Set up a reading challenge
I’m not sure if Good Reads first introduced the concept, but that’s where I found out about it.
A reading challenge is basically setting a goal of how many books you want to read in a year. I first started with 12 books a year and managed to grow up to 20 books a year. I was never fully aware of how much (or how little) I was reading until I started to set reading challenges and to actually track the progress.
Related: Is a Kindle Actually Worth It?
It’s a great way to learn new things and to keep track of your progress. I’m so happy I’ve been doing this for the last four years or so.
Big or small, bold or shy, goals are meant to make you a better person. If you discover that a goal is not in-line with who you are or who you want to become, don’t feel ashamed to quit it and set a new goal.
For me, goals are about the challenge of making a promise to yourself and keep your word. There’s nothing more beautiful than realising how far you’ve come.
I hope
Good luck!
15 comments
These are so good! I have been spending less time on social media which has been so helpful for me. It is hard since it’s my job but setting work hours has always been a huge help!
I like that you put create a good habit. Because I feel like we are always focused on what to stop doing, instead of things we should start doing! I also created a reading challenge and I’ve already read 4 of the 25 books, so I’m thinking about increasing my amount to 50.
That’s amazing, Felicia! I’m only on my second book, out of twenty. How do you manage to read so much?
Whether you make a resolution or set a goal, it feels great when you achieve it. My husband and I set up a savings account when we were newlyweds (and new college graduates) and are really glad we did. He had to retire early due to health issues and the savings have given us a lot of peace of mind.
I am working on a reading challenge for myself and I’m so excited about it. My goal is 20 books this year and I can’t wait to hit that goal.
Mine is 20 too – I’m already on my 2nd book. Good luck!
I like the simplicity of just quitting a bad habit and then replacing it with a good one. Resolutions don’t need to be fancy, ya know? 🙂
One of my goals is to break the habit of scrolling through social media so frequently. I also want to save more.
My habits are a big focus of mine this year. Whilst I’ve worked hard to ensure my social media accounts are filled with positivity and motivation so I don’t feel depleted when scrolling through them, I know my time can still be better used doing otherwise, so the many hours I would usually spend online I now devote to reading. It’s only the 15th of January and I’ve already finished 5 books, which I am over the moon about! I feel so much more accomplished and can’t wait to see how many books I’m able to read this year ☺️
Wow, 5 books already?! You go for it, girl!
I love a goal that is actually attainable! Thanks for sharing!
These are wonderful goal ideas for 2019 resolutions! I’m definitely going to cut my time on social media. Wishing you a beautiful new year!
Thank you, Aarika! Hope you’ll have a marvellous year too!
I love this. I am currently setting a reading list but i need to work on dropping a bad habit and picking up a good one!
That is a really good list of simple goals for the year! The reading challenge is a great one! That’s the first thing to usually go for me when to-do lists are long and days are short and boy do I miss reading! I think I’ll set a small, attainable reading challenge for the year and see what happens.