Why I Don't Make Resolutions

Ahh…a new year. It always brings about such glamorous thoughts of new habits, new adventures, and new resolutions. While a few are successful at keeping these resolutions, many are not. Today I am sharing why I don’t make resolutions, and what I do instead.

I read an article some time ago that said that only 9% of the people who make New Year’s resolutions stick to them. Essentially, out of 100 people, only 9 people felt they were successful in keeping their promises to themselves. Often times, I believe, it’s because we tend to create unrealistic goals and aspirations for ourselves. I know I am guilty of this. I spent my 20s making giant, broad resolutions like, “get in better shape”, “give more”, “read more”, “eat better”, etc. The problem with general goals like this is, well, they’re much too general.

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Why I don’t make resolutions

Essentially, why I don’t make resolutions boils down to this: I’ve never stuck with them. I’m ok with it. Life is constantly changing. While having the resolution to eat better, get in shape, and give more is worthwhile, I’ve learned that life gets busy. It gets unpredictable. It’s messy. It’s easy to lose sight of those glamorous goals, and before you know it, you’re ringing in another New Year.

What I do instead

A few years ago, I started making monthly goals. This is obviously nothing new, but for me it was transformative. My issue was that I never broke those big resolutions down into bite size monthly pieces. I’m also a perfectionist, and after failing a time or two, I tend to label myself as a failure in that area and move on. Never to try that specific thing or activity again. So, when February comes along and my resolutions were derailed by one thing or another, I’d label myself as a failure, and forget about getting in better shape, or giving more.

Now if my overall life goal is to fit in more activity, I schedule that into my week. For instance, if I want to run 100 miles in a month, I will break that down into 25 miles a week, and schedule to run so many days that week for so many miles until I reach that specific goal. I do this with housework, decluttering, farming, homeschooling, you name it. Keeping things on a daily/weekly/monthly basis helps me, and my goals, fluctuate with life.

We most certainly do not know what tomorrow brings but keeping my goals flexible allows to me roll with it. Instead of making broad yearly resolutions I simply want to take each day at a time. My sincere goal is to draw closer to the Lord and seek His will for the life He entrusted me with. When we are handed a detour from our plans, our prayer is that we allow the Lord to direct our steps and light our path.

I would love to hear if you make resolutions, or what you do instead!

As always, thanks for spending a tiny part of your day with me. Happy New Year!