I find resolutions hard to keep. Something about the black and white finality if them makes my inner-crybaby lose interest pretty fast. I guess the whole all-or-nothing thing just rubs me the wrong way. In my feel-zone resolutions remind me of diets, deprivation, and failure, all things I'd happily avoid.
When I first read Emma and Elsie's Simple Goals post on A Beautiful Mess, the idea resonated with me. Setting goals for the new year feels so much more optimistic, like gifting yourself with the opportunity for change and growth. By making your goals relatively easy to accomplish you can help give yourself some momentum, the oft-missing ingredient for long term success.
So, rather than setting a vague resolution for 2014, why not set a simple, achievable goal, like:
– Eat green veggies every day.
– Make something creative every week.
– Ride your bike to work every Monday.
– Call your Mom every Sunday.
– Adopt another cat. (I wish I could take this one myself.)
Need some inspiration? I've set some lofty goals for myself in past years, and I'll gladly reminisce about them with you.
My goal for 2007 was to get myself into a full-time creative job. While I wasn't exactly sure how I would make that happen, fate decided to help me out. I quit my full-time job to go back to the restaurant industry while I worked on starting my own craft business. Just after quitting, my boss ended up asking me to come back, this time as a full time beauty blogger and natural recipe developer. Thus, The Natural Beauty Workshop was born. I've been a full-time creative ever since.
In 2007 I also challenged myself to replace all of my beauty products with natural or homemade formulas by the end of the year. I'm proud to tell you that I did succeed with that one. You can read all about my journey on The Natural Beauty Workshop.
In 2012 I resolved to start treating my own blog, Mary Makes Dinner, like a job. I knew I had to post more regularly, but also network more aggressively, and work harder on giving the blog a recognizable "voice". Getting Mary Makes Dinner to where it is now has involved a whole lot if work, but it feels great to be able to take pride in the project. All that hard work paid off too. Since I stepped up my game on Mary Makes Dinner I've been rewarded with countless opportunities to grow as a writer, cook, teacher, and public speaker.
So what simple goals will I set this year?
- Have a baby. This one is kind of a cheat, seeing as I don't have much say in the matter at this point, but hey, take the wins when you can, right?
- Write a book. (Or two.)
- Go to yoga at least once a week. Whenever I'm at yoga class I love it, but every time it's time to GO to yoga, it becomes a battle against letheragy.
- Share at least one recipe every week in 2014. I did pretty well with this in 2013, but I know it might be more challenging in the year to come.
- Create photo books of the past few years. This might be kind of weird, but I want to give my kid a look into who we were before they came along. I was always curious about my parents identities beyond us kids. I felt like those little hints of their lives outside our home were clues, and if I could collect them all I might get to know them better.