New Year’s Goals

I’m not sure about you, but every year I try my absolute best to set a New Year’s resolution…but they never happen. When I say this, I mean it in the most sincere way, but I truly am a goal-setter and achiever. What was the difference then between a resolution and a goal for me to actually get things done and reset new habits each year?

That is when it hit me that maybe we need to get rid of the New Year’s resolution stigma, and instead call “resolutions” something that will resonate better for you. For me, I can set goals, make a plan, and achieve them no problem. Going into the new year, I decided to instead refer to my plans as goals. Again, you can call your anything that helps you – goal, plan, intentions, aspiration, theme, purpose…you name it!

Now, to provide a little inspiration, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my New Year’s goals, and it would be super motivating and empowering for any viewers of this blog post to share your “resolutions” in the comments!

Increase general health and wellness. 

My 2020 was a year where I gained the “COVID-15” a play on words of the college freshman 15 where you gain 15 pounds. I really want to make good habits now health-wise that will aide in my future wellbeing. Different factors of health and wellness for me are focusing on drinking more water to stay hydrated, not snacking as often or as late at night, exercise and stretch and X amount of time per week, along with practice gratitude in the sense of journaling and words of personal affirmation to boost my mood (“daily I’m thankful for…, This went well today.., I will improve tomorrow by …”).

Reach financial goals set

A huge part of my life is focused around personal finance, and just general career goals I have set for myself. I don’t personally feel comfortable sharing my specific financial goal, but for this year it focuses different activities around saving more money, investing, along with increasing income between getting another part-time job, and even learning new skills to apply to my resume for work.

Improve and create more relationships

After a year of not being nearly as social as I normally am, I am really looking forward to this goal. I’m looking to meet new friends, and join more groups to meet likeminded people (local parish, volunteer, work events, student organizations at my college, and more). To further expand on this, I’m also making an extreme effort to actively start dating – for my age, this is a personal decision and the time is right for me for my personal situation.

Weekly email clean-out for 15 minutes

I am very organized…except for when it comes to my email inbox! This goal I am very looking forward to, but basically I am going to set a reminder/meeting on my phone calendar for 15 minutes once a week for an entire year. This set of 15 minutes will be to clear out all the emails in my inbox that piled up from the week, unsubscribe from any new email senders that I be on the list for, and even just to have a clean space for the week. By setting the reminder, I feel that this will really aide in accomplishing this goal for sure.

Again, these were just my personal set of New Year’s goals in a form of inspiration if you’re still looking to make a plan for yours. Really consider to not use the word “resolution”, but instead think about an actionable word that resonates with you and sparks action or motivation.

I would love to hear about what word you decide on, or even a few of your New Years “resolutions” for the new year!

Are you usually a goal-setter? Do you try to set resolutions? Have you noticed a difference between the two? How do you feel when you don’t accomplish a goal or resolution, and what do you think can help you achieve them?