Foolproof method for keeping new year resolutions

We are 13 days into the new year and there are a million posts about resolutions. Make this post a million and one.

Real talk though we all make so many resolutions for the new year and talk about all the habits we will break and the habits we will form but truth be told by February they have been thrown away like those gym memberships we all rush to get. This year I created a foolproof method to ensure that I crush my New Year resolutions and I am now sharing them with you!

#1: Take it back old school and employ the KISS method. Keep it simple stupid. Instead of telling yourself you are going to go to the gym every single day, instead, give yourself an activity goal such as: I will be active for 30-45 minutes 20 days out of the month. By telling myself that I will be active 20 days out of the month, I do not feel as pressured every single day to make it to a workout and it also offers me the flexibility to understand that walking during my lunch hour or using commercial breaks to do isolation moves is also forming a new and healthy workout.

#2: Instead of long monthly productivity or habit-forming goals, I am breaking down everything into weeks. If I know that I want to be better with organizing or cleaning the house, I break everything into weeks. Week 1 I may focus on making my bed daily while week 2 takes the goal of week 1 and then adds another like putting my clothes up every single day after work instead of throwing them on a chair. Before I can move onto a different goal then I have to perfect the previous.

#3: Last but not least I am only allowing myself four changes for the year and being patient about it. No more laundry list of all these things I am going to stop doing and things I am going to do. I chose the number four because of the quarters in a year. They say it takes 30 days to form a habit but I have found that for me it is closer to 2 months and 3 months to really seal it into my routine.

Some of my resolutions

• Take care of my health outside of fitness. This may sound super nasty and well- it is but one of my biggest goals is my dental health. I have been super undisciplined with brushing my teeth twice daily, flossing daily, and making my dentist appointments. So this year I look to change that. Another part of my health that I want to better with is eating. I am the queen of irregular eating times and it is about time to get this together. Last but not least I really, really need to up my water intake. I refuse to fool myself into thinking that I am going to be guzzling a gallon a day but I’m working on drinking 3 glasses or bottles a day and then moving it up weekly.

• Spend my time wisely. One thing I realized when I did an assessment of 2018 was the number of blogger events that Jermaine and I attended. Yes some of them are very fun but they have not allowed me to grow in my career. The thing with DC blogger events is that the guest lists rarely vary. It is almost always the same old same old and I am one of those bloggers that actually recaps the night on my stories in full. I believe you get an invite so you should at least offer promotion for them. But the biggest reason I am not attending as many this year because I want to dedicate my free time back to what is truly important to me: the people I love. So instead of weekly blogger events, I will be going to brunch with friends, or cleaning up the house or writing blog posts or working out or even sleeping and resting or calling a friend on the phone and catching up or being with Jermaine and the kids.

What are some ways that you keep your resolutions? Let’s chat in the comment section.

Photo details

My sister took most of these pics for me while we were in Florida. These were taken on location at the Ford + Edison Winter Estates in Fort Myers. We used a Canon 80D with a 50mm 1.4 lens.