I have to be honest, I’m not big into New Year’s resolutions.  This is mostly because I don’t like the pressure of making a major change all at once and expect myself to maintain the change for a long period of time. I think there is also an underlying social expectation that whatever you resolve for the new year, will fail before the end of January.  It is the American way.

If you are the kind of person who is motivated by the idea of a New Year’s resolution and wants to jump on that bandwagon good for you! My only suggestion would be to keep your resolution small for starters.  Let’s give an example from my area of expertise: home organizing.  

You may say, “This year I resolve to keep an organized house.” That is great, but that is a HUGE resolution to begin all at once! Is there one pain point that you would really like to see improved upon immediately? Maybe it is having a tidy kitchen.  This may involve putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher, washing dirty sink dishes nightly, putting food items away when finished.  These are all areas that will require development of skills and new habits to improve upon.  After several weeks of “mastering” your new habits and maintaining your kitchen to your liking, maybe you move onto the bedroom as well.  

Give some honest thought to the resolution you are considering making for 2016.  Is the resolution manageable and realistic?  Or, if it feels very broad and likely to fail, what is one small element of that resolution you can begin with?

Here’s to a Happy, Healthy and Organized New Year! What do you Resolve for 2016?