The new year is a time when most people will have embarked on some form of ill thought out (or drunkenly thought out!) drastic resolutions, usually around losing a stone in a week and going from couch potato to running the London Marathon in a month. Most of these fail as they aren't planned well and are so big they seem completely undoable. I'm guilty of this too, for a few years I used to get drunk over christmas and then declared January I can totally run the Great Manchester Run in May and I will train properly this time and I will go running weekly. Cue to May when I'd have done the sum total of one run, remembered I why hate running and then face a day of hell as I'm still a sucker for a goodie bag.
Break It Down
If you apply a bit of thought to your ideas and spend some time properly considering them and breaking them down into the steps you need to take to get there you will get there eventually. Let go of the idea of doing it all right now and start being kind to yourself. Every smaller step along that path is still on that path. Even if you sidestep off it for a birthday or a holiday, you can just jump back on it and look back at how far you've come already before setting off again.
Break every big goal into much smaller steps. "I will go completely cruelty free in all my toiletries and cosmetics" becomes "I'll tackle this one area first". You are more likely to achieve this and then are still motivated to carry on rather then failing at the first hurdle as it's such a mammoth task doing it all in one go. Every target should be broken down into small achievable steps you can easily achieve along the way to the main goal.
Work With Your Body
Firstly, it's Midwinter. Your body wants to eat all of the food and hibernate. Living off juices and salads is setting yourself up for a fall before you even start. Stay in tune with your body and yes, resolve to cut down processed food and booze now but if you don't give your body the nourishment its craving, you will set yourself up for a fall and completely give up. Right now you need warm comfort food. Leave any drastic changes involving living on salad until Spring. as the weather changes, you will naturally be more inclined to shed the winter weight and move away from stodgy warm food to lighter cooler foods and you will be I'm the mood to move more and so you will more easily be able to stick to your goals.
Reclaim Missing Time
If you commute, you have time to yourself to read, listen to music or podcasts and you can use that time for anything you want. This should be something positive that will help you on your way to your goal or something to help you get ready for or decompress from the day.
You should also reclaim your lunch break. So many of us work through this hour as the rule when it should be the exception. You aren't taking it back, you are taking what is your time anyway to do what you want. You are also likely to return ready for the afternoon invigorated and be more productive as you've taken a full mental break. So go for a walk, take time over your food, have a proper brew with the computer locked, ignore the emails and enjoy it!
Given the time, who knows what you can do!
