Last Updated on April 9, 2022
We all have our dreams and ambitions that come to life at the beginning of each new year – our New Year’s resolutions. It’s a clean slate and a chance to start fresh.
Oftentimes, I find myself making comparisons to others in the various communities I’m a part of and thinking, “man, I wish I could do things more like her”.
Well, rather than simply wishing for things to magically change in your life, now is the time to put some work into being that confident girl (or guy) that you can be proud of.
Generally, I just make a never-ending list of things I want to change or do better at, but to be honest, that can get super long and overwhelming.
Something I’ve learned this past year is that even though looking at the big picture is great, sometimes things are easier to digest when you break them down.
How to Make New Year’s Resolutions
Break it down
I plan to do this by categorizing who I am or simply what I would label myself as:
- Military Spouse
- Traveler
- Fitness Enthusiast
- Aspiring Entrepreneur
- Writer
Ask yourself…
Next, I’m going to go into each category above and ask myself the following questions:
- What are my ultimate goals as this person this year?
- What small steps can I start doing daily/weekly/monthly to get to these goals?
- What investments can I make in myself to help me reach those goals?
*Try your best to use the “SMART” Goal method (below) for each New Year’s resolution you have. This will help set up each goal for success.
S = Specific. Make sure your goal is very specific.
M = Measurable. Include a date or numbers to help measure your goal’s progress.
A = Attainable. Don’t set goals that are out of your reach or just aren’t possible. You’ll only end up disappointing yourself in the end.
R = Realistic. Somewhat like “A”, make sure your goals are relevant and realistic.
T = Timely. Set goals that can actually be achieved or have progress in a given period of time.
Hold up, what are my ultimate goals?
Stuck on what your ultimate goals are this year? Try to think bigger picture. What are your ultimate goals as this person in your lifetime?
If you were 95 years old right now, what cool things do you want to tell your grandkids that you did in your lifetime? What things are you going to be proud to tell someone you did in your lifetime?
Want to visit every continent in the world one day? Well, if you’re starting from scratch, this may not be the most-realistic goal to put on your “2021 New Year’s resolution list” (especially during current times). BUT, break that goal down and figure out what steps you can realistically achieve to one day reach that goal.
“By the end of 2021, I will have planned my itinerary to visit Asia in 2022.”
How to Keep New Year’s Resolutions
Make it happen
How many years have you made an awesome New Year’s resolution list only to have that ambition fizzle out by February?
Don’t let that happen! Mark it on your calendar and set a reminder on your phone to sit down and reassess your goals every month.
It also really helps to write your goals down and have them visible to you every single day. Maybe post it on a bulletin board in your office, tape it to the side of your computer, or write it on the mirror for you to see every day when you get ready.
Record your progress
Sometimes it’s hard to see progress when you forget where you started from. Every month when you sit down to reassess your goals, write down something you did to work towards that goal or what progress you made. Even just a little progress is progress, and that’s all that counts!
To avoid overwhelming yourself with tons of goals, try to choose only a few to put in each “identification category”. Having just a few organized goals will be much easier to digest (and therefore achieve) than a long and endless list.
If some items you want on your New Year’s resolution list just don’t seem to fit appropriately into one of your categories, create a Miscellaneous/General list at the end to add those to.
Celebrate Your Wins
Don’t be so hard on yourself. Celebrate the small wins to keep you motivated to keep working at your goals. It will make the journey much more rewarding!
When to Make New Year’s Resolutions
There is no right or wrong time to start making your New Year’s Resolutions. Some prefer to do it once the new year is here, such as the first of January. Others like to plan ahead and start their New Year’s resolutions list in December.
It’s never too late, though. Even if it’s halfway through the year, you can always make a list of goals for yourself. Don’t feel like it has to be at the “right time” of the year. What matters is that it’s the right time for YOU!
Get Inspired Before Making your goals
I say it all depends on when you’re feeling ambitious and inspired. Don’t force yourself to make goals that may not be important to you at the time.
Find a quiet spot to sit alone, light a candle, grab some tea or do whatever helps you to relax and focus on your goals. There’s something about writing with pen and paper over a computer, but do what works best for you. Maybe even consider turning your goals into a vision board?
You can do it!
Remember, if you really want it bad enough, you can make your New Year’s resolutions happen one way or another. The key is to stay organized, be dedicated, and keep your goals at the forefront of your mind.
Success doesn’t happen overnight. Stay positive and keep working at it!
My New Year’s Resolutions for 2021:
Military Spouse Resolutions
Ultimate Military Spouse Goals of 2021 + Steps to Achieve these Goals:
- Make at least 3-5 new good friends in the military spouse community by the end of 2021.
- Attend more spouse events and take the initiative to invite other spouses out for coffee or lunch myself.
- Be more involved in the WhatsApp chat.
- Reach out to new incoming military spouses to see how they’re adjusting and if they need any help (or a wine buddy).
- Be more involved as a military spouse by holding one position (Patch Night chair?) and/or volunteering 2-3 times at spouse events by the end of 2021.
- Talk to current chair positions I’m interested in to ask about helping out.
- Stay in-the-know about upcoming events that I can volunteer for.
- Ask my hubby what I can do to help the squadron and initiate a new event for us military spouses to help out.
- Volunteer to plan fun events for the squadron such as Pink Flags, golf outings, weekend squadron trips, etc.
- Encourage other military spouses to get out and travel/explore more through posting at least one blog post per week on Catch the Drift and send out one email per month.
- Set aside a few hours each week (Monday or Tuesday) to sit down and write a military spouse travel post for my blog, Catch the Drift. Post once a week every Thursday. If time, get ahead on posts to schedule out for future weeks!
- Reach out to the military spouse community to try to get guest writers to contribute to Catch the Drift and share their recommendations of traveling while stationed at military bases around the world.
- Collaborate with other military spouse bloggers.
- Spread the word about Catch the Drift to the military spouse community through various marketing tactics.
- Send monthly email updates to fill my Catch the Drift community in on recent posts and events.
Traveler Resolutions:
Ultimate Traveler Goals for 2021 + Steps to Achieve these Goals:
- Once COVID is under control, plan to travel to at least one new country by the end of 2021 or make plans to travel to a new country once safe to travel again.
- Research safe places to travel and travel protocols to decide on where to go.
- Start researching that country – places to stay, things to do, etc. – and create an itinerary for the trip.
- Safely travel domestically around the USA to at least 10 new places I’ve never been by the end of 2021.
- Write down places I’d like to go that are safe to travel to.
- Block out weeks/weekends throughout the year to plan domestic trips.
- Find at least 20 cool off-the-strip things to do in Las Vegas by the end of 2021.
- Research things to do around Las Vegas off the strip.
- Block out free days on the weekends to go explore somewhere new.
Fitness Enthusiast Resolutions:
Ultimate Fitness Enthusiast Goals for 2021 + Steps to Achieve these Goals:
- Continue to get to the gym 3-5 times per week.
- Every Sunday, block out 3-5 days in my schedule to get to the gym. If it’s in the calendar, it’s happening!
- Be consistent with my workout plan – Leg Day on Monday, Shoulders on Wednesday, Arms & Back on Friday.
- Do something active every day (weightlifting, yoga, walking, running, hiking, class, etc.)
- Walk the dog every morning and on off-days from the gym, find ways to get active.
- Make this a self-care priority! Put in the calendar each morning to make time for this.
- Figure out how to utilize my personal training and group fitness certificate to get at least 3 new clients in 2021.
- Start advertising my services more on social media and create a website.
- Hand out business cards whenever appropriate.
Aspiring Entrepreneur Resolutions
Ultimate Aspiring Entrepreneur Goals for 2021 + Steps to Achieve these Goals:
- Launch event business within the first quarter of the year (Jan-Mar) and get at least one client by the end of 2021.
- Finish website and get contracts made prior to launching.
- Start marketing via friends, family, social media, strong SEO posts for organic search, and more.
- Connect with companies on LinkedIn to help with networking.
- Step-up my blogging business by re-optimizing my website using SEO strategies I’ve learned, adding in 3-5 affiliates to start earning an income, and connecting with at least one brand/destination to collaborate with before the end of 2021.
- Spend a week getting ahead on posts so I can spend a couple of uninterrupted weeks redoing parts of my website to help with search engine optimization.
- Research appropriate affiliates, apply, and start adding into old and new posts.
- Reach out to appropriate brands or destinations to see if anyone would be interested in a collaboration to help grow my business and theirs.
- Double my monthly page visits for Catch the Drift by June 2021 and double my email list by the end of 2021.
- Continue to optimize every new post and go back to optimize/update older posts.
- Utilize Pinterest and social media platforms to help drive more traffic.
- Create more opt-in pages/incentives to add people to my email list.
Writer/Creative Resolutions
Ultimate Writer/Creative Goals for 2021 + Steps to Achieve these Goals:
- Continue working on book consistently every week
- Schedule one or two days a week for an hour or two to work on my book.
- Set a timer and don’t let anything interrupt my scheduled writing time.
- Publish my children’s book by the end of 2021
- Edit and have friends/family read and edit my children’s book as well as provide feedback.
- Find an illustrator and research publishing options to get my children’s book out into the world.
- Sell my product on Etsy by the end of 2021
- Continue making/perfecting my “product” to a point where I would want to purchase it myself.
- Open an Etsy shop and start trying to sell my product.
Some of your New Year’s resolutions and goals may not necessarily make sense in one of your “identification categories”, so feel free to put those at the end of your list under a miscellaneous or general heading.
Miscellaneous Goals:
- Read at least 30 minutes each day.
- Set aside reading time in my schedule to sit down and read for at least 30 minutes.
- Put time into learning Italian at least 2 days every month.
- At the beginning of each month, schedule a few hours for 2 days to focus on learning Italian.
- Try this for a few months and if possible, increase this to once a week.
- Learn to not hate cooking and cook at least two meals per week
- Research healthy and easy-to-make meals on Sundays and then plan what days I will make meals during the week.
- Plan all meals for the week and do grocery shopping on Sunday.
- Visit New York at least once in 2021.
- Despite current events, find a time to go to NYC to fill that “craving”.
- Find a local café that I can go do work at
- Research cafes that are open and safe that I can go work to get away from the normal routine of working at home.
- Learn to find time to relax
- Start training myself to stop feeling like I need to be go, go, go all the time in order to feel productive.
