Every new year, hundreds of millions of people around the world face new challenges for their new year. For most people, it doesn’t work and they laugh about it and say, “there’s always next year!”
It doesn’t have to be you.
The key to success in achieving New Year’s resolutions is to create realistic and achievable goals. Go out and tell everyone, “I’m going vegan and getting rid of all the unnatural sugars.” is not feasible for most people and will simply put too much pressure on you. Here are 6 achievable yet practical resolutions you should consider.
#1 Read more
For this one, your goals can be set by you, which makes it awesome! If you know you don’t have a lot of time and probably can’t spend all of your weekends reading, limit yourself. If you have plenty of time and want to get into the world of books, try doing something like reading 20 books in a year.
The benefits of reading range from strengthening your brain to reducing stress, and it may even help you live longer! Taking up this hobby can be extremely beneficial and can even spark new interests, like writing your own stories. There’s no reason not to try it.
#2 Learn a new skill
Learning to do something you don’t know how to can be tedious and frustrating, but once you master it, you feel like you’re on top of the world. Whether you want to learn how to sew or how to paint, you can do whatever takes your fancy.
Need inspiration? Here are some great skills to learn: knitting, embroidery, cooking, pottery, hula-hoop, carpentry, graphic design, tap dancing, or even how to do the flying trapeze! There is so much room and flexibility to learn a new skill. You’ll never get bored painting a Van-Gogh while hula-hooping!
#3 Adopt a new language
Did you know that over 6,000 languages are spoken around the world? French, Latin, Spanish, Irish, Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi and German are just a few examples. Knowing how to speak several languages is extremely practical and will help you almost everywhere. You may also feel more connected to the culture of that specific language.
If you go into this business, in a few years you might find yourself routinely ordering a croissant from a French bakery. For starters, I highly recommend the free app, Duolingo. It keeps you motivated and has a full program. Learning a new language is great for critical thinking and problem solving, and it will make for a fantastic resolution.
#4 Start saying positive affirmations 
Waking up every morning thinking “today is going to be awesome” is the right way to start the day. Phrases like this are called “positive affirmations” and are taking the world by storm. Using affirmations is a good way to boost your confidence and control some of your negative feelings.
Saying something like “I can do this.”, “I’m going to rock this presentation.” or “Today I will finish this project”. can be extremely helpful when it comes to being mentally prepared and strong. Saying these short sentences can cause you to develop a more optimistic state of mind and a stronger sense of balance.
Affirmations are a simple tool to improve your life. Pinterest is a good resource for finding phrases. Once you make it a habit, you may be able to create your own!
#5 Eat a good breakfast
There has long been a debate about whether breakfast is actually the most important meal of the day, but nevertheless, a healthy and nutritious breakfast is essential. When you are preparing for the day, you should not eat sugary and unsatisfying foods. you will feel crummy and sluggish. You want to have energy, you want to feel strong, and eating well will do that for you.
It can be difficult to prepare something every morning, but meals like oatmeal do exist and are delicious! If you have time to prepare something, take the opportunity to prepare eggs, make an avocado toast or eat Greek yogurt with granola. Believe me, while you may want to eat lucky charms at first, the way healthy eating makes you feel will make you forget your old unhealthy habits.
#6 Start exercising.
Doing an exercise is one of the most popular and failed resolutions. There’s a simple way to stay on top of your goal and not burn out.
You have to stay realistic.
The moment you go out and run an inexperienced marathon will be your downfall. Create a lasting goal while challenging yourself. If running is what you want to do, do it! Swimming, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and cycling are also options. Choose a type of exercise you want to do and write down some sub-goals for it.
For example, I want to start running. I decided to try running 7 miles a week and run two 5k races this year. For me, it’s not super easy, but at the same time, it’s not overwhelming. Try something like this for yourself and you will find success.
Conclusion
So! 6 great New Year’s resolutions you should consider trying this New Year. The hardest thing about resolutions is keeping them, but I believe in you. Whenever you doubt your abilities, remember this: imagine how great you’ll feel at the end of the year when you’ve gone through the whole year without giving up. Everyone else around you will talk about the resolution they gave up on while you can share that you stuck with it! You stayed in it, even though it was hard, and eventually you became a better person.
Good luck, and have a wonderful New Year!
