New Year Resolutions, be smart.

Are you going to be a better person this year?

The Christmas celebrations are now complete, the extra food cleared away and the home returned to some sort of normality (or it will be once the decorations have been put away for another year).

New Year celebrations

The new year was welcomed in with fireworks and good cheer and now it is time for those dreaded / wonderful new year resolutions. How are you going to improve on your life in the coming year? Here are some typical resolutions:

Get fitter
Eat more healthily
Cut down on the booze
Be nicer to your relatives
Be nicer to your friends
Go out more
Have more fun
Stay in more
Save some money
Learn a new skill

etc etc etc...

Now, vague resolutions like these are all well intended but they are not measurable so it would be easy to say you have stuck to them but you can't really show evidence that you have.  If you think more along the lines of stating detailed specific resolutions, which include a way of measuring them, you will be more likely to actually keep the resolution and also feel good about it. Some people refer to these as SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic , time-bound).

Lets look at each of these in turn.

Get fitter: Go for a 2 mile run once per week.

Regular run

Eat more healthily: Eat chips a maximum of 1 time per week, eat a piece of fruit every day, have a vegetable only meal once per week.

Eat a piece of fruit a day

Cut down on the booze: Don't drink any alcohol on a weekday night, have no more than 2 alcoholic drinks on a weekend day/night.

Be nicer to your relatives: Visit your mum / dad / aunt etc once a month (or whatever is appropriate), phone home once a week.

Be nicer to your friends: Get in touch with any friends you haven't spoken to / seen in the last month just to say 'Hi', be there to help any friends who are having problems - let them know you are there for them.

Go out more: If you are a stay at home person why not go out to see a film once a fortnight and go out for a meal with a friend / partner once a week. Have a day trip with friends / partner once every month.

Go walking with friends

Have more fun: Visit an event / museum / gallery / music venue / go out with friends once a month. 

Dulwich Gallery

Tate Modern

Stay in more: If you are the sort of person who burns the candle at both ends then make a point of going out only 2 nights per week, try out a new hobby at home 1 night a week (eg beer brewing / knitting / reading a book / do some yoga).

Hobbies

Save some money: Set up a standing order from your bank to save £50 / month into a savings account (ISA) have this paid in on the day you get your salary so you won't be tempted to spend it.

Learn a new skill: Enroll in a class (physical or online) and attend classes every week for the whole course.

By being more specific it will be easier to keep the resolution and easier to know that you have done the required thing. If anything slips it would be easier to increase the number of times you do the task the following week / month to make up.

I'd love to know what resolutions you have made and how you intend to measure them. Let me know in the comments below.

My new year resolutions are:

• Go for a run once/week.
• Go for a long walk (over 2 hours) once a fortnight.
• Learn a new photography skill (complete an online course).
• Complete craft projects that have been started but not finished (knitting).
• Have a veggie meal at least once a week.

Good luck with yours!



My thanks to Pixaby and Eric Spaete for the fireworks image.