Calm down before you get your panties in a bunch over the title. Hear me out, before you click off of this blog post. Read it to the end. I promise, it isn’t as bad as it sounds! (Y’all know I can be rather dramatic! Hehe…)

New Year’s Resolutions are a waste of time in my opinion. Alright I said it, I said my opinion and I am entitled to an opinion, aren’t I? 🙂 Either way here it goes……

Every one and their mama is talking about New Year’s Resolutions this time of year. I love the encouragement and the inspiration that comes with it, but honestly we should be doing that all of the time anyway, so why just the New Year?

New Year’s Resolutions and Why They Suck

Hear me out, I do not think that New Years Resolutions are all bad, but I do know this, a lot of us get away from the resolution within the first month. Sad, but true! A lot of people, including myself at one time or another, set resolutions that were not attainable. They weren’t realistic!

Say for instance: I am going to loose 50 pounds in 50 days. Hey, if that is how you want to do things, try it. I will be the barrier of bad news and say, IT WILL NOT WORK. Why? Because, we all have bad days. We all have those days where we don’t want to do anything or we don’t want to exercise or eat right. And honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. So, then what happens? We beat ourselves up because we gained a pound or two, or we didn’t lose any weight. We are angry with ourselves, because we didn’t provide any room in our plan to have a “ugh oh day”. You know those days, when you say: Ugh oh, I cannot believe I ate that cupcake! Then we are down in the dumps, we get mad at ourselves, we get depressed, because we know we are off track and then we give up. Not to mention, loosing a pound a day is not really great for you, but that is a totally different blog in itself, so we shall stay on task! Okay, so I think you get the idea, right?

New Year's Resolutions and Why They Suck

So Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, how bout we try these strategies:

Strive to Be Better Everyday Not Just On New Year’s

Every time I speak to a group of ladies or on The PurposeFULL woman Podcast I am always talking about how important it is to strive to be better today than we were yesterday. I don’t know about you, but I want to be a better human-being than I was the day before, every single day of the year not just on New Year’s. I strive to do better everyday! I fail at it, but I pick myself up and keep moving forward. Somedays it’s harder to do that, but I have to remember that God is with me every step of the way and He will not fail me. He always helps me through the obstacle.

Goal Setting

I am all about setting goals, but New Year’s should not be the only time you set goals. You should set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. Goals are good, but you should want and need to set them, because God is calling you to it, not because the calendar is calling you to it.

Self Control

Okay this one may be hard for some of you to swallow and you may think I am being mean, but here it goes….. Practice self-control everyday, not just during the New Year. We teach our kids to have self-control, but for some reason us adults forget to have self-control and to practice what we preach.

Again every single day we should strive to be better than we were yesterday, so that includes practicing self-control. We also have to have self-control to reach our goals. So why not practice what we preach?!

Say for instance you want to loose that 50 pounds we talked about earlier. Well, you have to practice self-control. You have to put the cupcake down! I say, put the cupcake down! Step away! Okay, so you get it, right?! Self-control! Practice what you preach sista!

Choosing a Word For The Year

My partner in crime for The PurposeFULL Woman, Caris, and I choose a word each year to focus on. We find scripture to back it up and find how it fits into our life and apply it. This helps both of us stay on track with our goals and God’s needs in our life. It helps us to remember the calling that He has called us to. It helps remind us where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do in our life.

I love making a pretty graphic on Canva and framing it every year with my word of the year and a scripture. Every year it hangs on my bathroom wall so I can see it every morning and recite it, own it and apply it!

(Caris has a great article about choosing a word for the year.)

Make Sure You Choose Goals That God Has For You, Not What The World Has For You

No matter what, before you do anything go to God and ask Him what He wants for your life for the year to come. Then from there ask Him everyday what He wants from you. We should be doing this anyway in all aspects of our life; finances, business, kids, marriage, etc. So let’s start here and work on it every single day!

During New Year’s we get used to hearing the same resolutions over and over again. Although not bad, they just may not be right for you this year, so make sure you go to God and see if you are supposed to run a marathon, get a new job, join a gym, or take a vacation. You should ask yourself: Is it God’s will or my will?

There are always “resolutions” that God will approve of, such as, getting fit, eating better or getting out of debt. But, you need to find out from God how far you should take it and how you should do it. Not every guru knows what you need. So calm down and chill! Your “resolutions” or goals do not have to be like everyone else’s.

See, That Wasn’t So Bad Was It?

If New Year’s Resolutions work for you, I say go for it. But, if you are finding yourself having a hard time holding onto them, I say try these strategies instead. They are less stressful and will show you that you can reach some pretty amazing goals!

Until next time….

~xoxo

Mandi

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