The end of the year can be a hectic time, especially with family get-togethers, travel plans, and holiday gift bills. Thus, it’s easy to overlook New Year’s resolutions or to hastily make a tentative list in your head. Most people have a neverending list of things they’d like to change about themselves and their lives, so making a definitive list of resolutions can be daunting.
However, I suggest that you make just one. One resolution that you’re resolved to achieve. If you make just one change in your life, it can have lasting ripples in other areas. Can’t think of any? Here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Start each day purposefully doing what’s most important to you.
Perhaps you love to draw but never find the time. Make a commitment to wake up 20 minutes earlier and sketch something every day.
2. Work on something outside of your comfort zone.
Take on a project you might normally pass up, or try a different style you don’t normally use. Test your limits. Surprise yourself.
3. Take one purposeful break per day.
Schedule one short outing per day that gets you out of your work chair. Try a new coffee shop, sit outside and people-watch, or just walk around the block looking for things you hadn’t noticed before.
4. Clean.
An organized workspace can save you tons of time and can be a source of inspiration.
5. Just do it.
So many people wait for the ideal time to do or buy something, and often they wait too long. If you’ve been saving a bottle of wine, waiting for the perfect time to take that trip, or saving that gift card until the time is just right, do it now. Don’t wait for a special occasion; make one.
I hope that at the end of this year, this first decade of the 21st century, you take some time to reflect and to release any past regrets. Out with the old, in with the new. Happy New Year.