Plan Your Days 

Self-improvement begins with organization. If you’re not organized, you will never tick off everything you want to do, meaning you’ll remain stuck in your rut without ever making the changes you want to make. Outlining and planning your days can help you maximize productivity, avoid getting buried under all your jobs, and minimize stress. By simply being more organized, you can stay on top of everything and have the freedom to move things around if you need to. 

Make Time For Exercise 

Planning your days can also help you carve out those sections or activities you felt you never had time for. One of these might be exercise, whether going to the gym or running around the neighborhood. It can be tricky to carve out exercise time, but by being more organized, you’ll be able to find a few hours here and there you could squeeze in a quick session. Since you’re working on self-improvement, you want to be able to find this time, so find a time that works for you and start building a positive habit. 

Decompress Every Day 

If you’re anything like everyone else, you probably spend too much time on your phone. There’s nothing wrong with this, but spending all night scrolling through social media is not the best use of your time. Instead, get rid of the screen for now and decompress every day. You can find journaling prompts for stress relief that can help you keep track of your days and even identify patterns in your life that trigger issues, such as stress, depression, anxiety, or mere bad moods. 

Identify Bad Habits And Dependencies

Just like going to the gym and working on your mental well-being, you can also identify how dependencies and bad habits are impacting your life. Issues like drinking or smoking can maintain a solid grip on your routine or health, and you’ll never get better if you’re still under their spell. If you feel like your habits are spiraling, checking into alcohol rehab can help you make things right. Likewise, you can also look into smoking cessation programs to quit for good and start getting your health back on track. 

Work On Professional Improvement

While personal improvement can be ideal for making you more appealing to [potential partners or simply making you like yourself again, it’s also worth considering professional improvement and development. Joining classes for starting programs can boost your confidence and make you more qualified at work, which may lead to promotions or at least increased responsibilities. If you can show you’re willing to put in the work, your boss will be more likely to trust you, allowing you to show what you’re capable of. 

Focus On Yourself 

Too many people worry about what others are doing. They scroll through their Instagram and lament how they aren’t doing cool things like the people they met once ten years ago or they are still obsessed with their ex who is living their life. This approach is not a healthy way to look at life. You’ll never improve on yourself if you worry about what others are doing. Remember, you don’t need to showcase your life and let everyone know what you’re doing. Instead, work on improving behind the scenes. The more you focus on yourself, the less time you’ll have to worry about anyone else. 

Have More Fun 

Self-improvement isn’t just about the grind. You should still try to have as much fun as you can because there’s no point otherwise. It’s worth taking the chance to explore new things and put yourself out there. If there’s anything you’ve always wanted to do, there’s no better time to do it than right now. You might surprise yourself and discover what you’re capable of, which could inspire you to pursue even more in your quest to become your best self. 

One Step At A Time

Self-improvement does not–and cannot–happen overnight. It is an often long process that will involve mistakes and starting from scratch. However, you’re embarking on this self-improvement journey to become your best self, so every challenge you face will be worth it and it will make the successes even sweeter. 

The post The Steps Toward Self Improvement appeared first on InstantELLA.

The truth is that insecurity is a normal part of life, and there are plenty of ways you can free yourself from the hold it has over you. However, there’s no one way to tackle this problem: moving past insecurity involves a holistic approach to your entire life. If this sounds daunting, don’t worry: it’s not as hard as it seems.  

Identify The Root of the Problem 

When you’re experiencing insecurity, it can be really hard to have a clear picture of the world around you. These feelings can cloud your judgment, perception, and self-image. That’s why it’s vital to find a way to take a step back, and find an objective view over your situation. Something, somewhere in your life, is causing you distress. Your job now is to pinpoint it. 

According to Psychology Today, there are three primary causes of insecurity. 

• Insecurity stemming from failure or rejection 

• Insecurity caused by social anxiety 

• Insecurity fueled by perfectionism 

Take stock of your life in an objective way, and ask yourself whether any of these three causes resonate with you. The fact is that there are tried-and-true methods for handling each one, so take comfort in the fact that insecurity isn’t a life sentence! There are ways to move past it by targeting the roots. 

While this approach is the most direct, there are other factors in your life that can make the problem far worse. Addressing them is central to a holistic approach towards tackling your insecurity. Let’s take a look at where you can begin. 

Take a Look At Your Routine 

Exercise, sleeping enough, eating healthy and drinking in moderation are all things that contribute towards reducing your insecurity. While it may not seem like your self-critical feelings are related to how much you slept last night, the truth is that the condition of our body dictates a lot of our emotional state. 

Simple habits for better mental health like these go a long way towards tackling anxiety. This involves a broad effort across many different elements of your life, but the fact is that this is key to tackling anxiety: a multi-front approach. You won’t get anywhere by changing only one thing. You have to take an active approach towards improving the quality of every part of your life. 

Unfortunately, if you’re not careful, bad habits accumulate and solidify. Once they do, it’s much harder to undo them. For example, exercising to prevent weight gain is far easier than exercising to achieve weight loss. Be proactive, get healthy, and kick those bad habits to the curb. You’ll find that your confidence and self-image will have improved considerably!

Pinpoint Negative People in Your Life 

We all know people who are seriously and unendingly negative. Often, they can’t help it! It’s as if complaining, criticizing, and groaning is built into their DNA. Their ability to turn any mundane event into a reason for fear and regret is almost impressive. There’s no two ways around it: avoid these people. 

Insecurity includes, in part, a defeatist outlook on the world. When you’re surrounded by people who constantly preach that life is terrible, and that nothing is worth doing, it can go to your head and make your struggle with insecurity a lot more severe. This is doubly true for those who can’t help but criticize you constantly – the serious effect of this behavior on your mental health is not something you should take lightly. 

However, what if you can’t walk away? Often those who drag you down the most are your very own family members, or a particularly cruel boss at your workplace. In these cases, you may simply have to confront them. For example, according to Lensa if your boss makes you feel incompetent, it’s important to stand up to him or her in a professional manner, even if it jeapordizes your employment! 

This is because putting your foot down about your boundaries and your mental health is vital. If standing up for yourself in a professional way means you may lose your job, then you’re probably better off finding a different place to work. When it comes to those who drag you down intentionally or unintentionally, they can’t be higher on your list of priorities than your own mental health. 

Take Care of Your Body 

While the real work that goes into tackling insecurity happens through changes to your mindset, habits, and environment, it’s important to find a way to embrace your physical beauty as well! Putting effort into the way you present yourself to the world is a great way to improve your self-esteem. 

Check out our article on 5 tips for a more confident you. Using some of these tricks, you can remind yourself that you are, in fact, beautiful! Simply feeling your beauty can help wash away insecurity, and strengthen the core self-image that gives you confidence. 

Find Perspective 

At the end of the day, remind yourself that insecurity is a normal part of life. Everybody experiences it, and often it’s simply a sign that there’s something in our inner selves or the world around us that we’d like to change. Instead of feeling resentful towards this negative emotion, think of it as a warning system that’s on your side. 

Insecurity is simply your brain trying to tell you that something doesn’t feel right. As soon as you feel it, look around at your life, and determine the problem. Once you do, it’s far easier to take steps towards fixing it. Insecurity isn’t something you need to fight, instead it’s a sign that there’s a battle to be fought elsewhere. 

The post 5 Tips for Tackling Insecurity appeared first on InstantELLA.

While I do agree that inner beauty is at the top of the necessities list, I also think it is important for women to feel beautiful in their own skin. There is nothing wrong with trying to be your best self and that includes looking your best. Here is a list of a few simple things to help you feel more radiant every day.

Hair

Top 10 Apps That Let You Try on Different Haircuts

As a rule of thumb sleeping with wet hair does not make for the easiest styling in the morning. If you need simple then I would suggest showering in the morning and then allowing the blowdryer and a small amount of product to do most of the styling for you.

Eyebrows 

Image Source

There is a huge push right now towards thick, perfectly sculpted eyebrows. While all of that is fine and good not all of us have time for that level of artistry in our daily makeup routine. Something simple for most women to do is get their eyebrows shaped at a salon and then keep up the shape by weekly tweezing the hair that grows outside the shaped brow.

Some ladies may prefer to wax their brows. The only problem with that is you have to allow the hair to grow in long enough to wax it off. If you just give yourself 5 minutes in the bathroom each week your brows will always look sharp and ready to go.

Teeth

8 Things You Should Know Before Going to the Dentist

Do you wish your smile was more dazzling? There are a few options for obtaining that glowing grin that you’ve been searching for. Probably the simplest solution would be custom veneers. They help to quickly correct and brighten your smile. Another option, if you feel like being in there for the long haul, would be braces. This way you can have your permanently perfect teeth.

Teeth whitening is also a quick solution you can turn to for a brighter overall look. It only takes a week or so to start seeing noticeable results that will have you smiling at everyone you meet.

Lips

How to get rid of chapped lips: The 10 best chapsticks and lip balms

A simple way to keep your face looking fresh and your smile looking clean are to avoid dry lips. Lip color is fun, but it doesn’t always fit the occasion. If you’re looking to just have a clean put together look than keep your lips moist. Chapstick works great on the go, but an extra shine from moisturizing lip gloss is a huge plus to a radiant smile.

Lashes

5 Changes to Make When Summer Turns to Fall

A step that many women skip in their makeup routine is curling their eyelashes. This is usually for 1 of 2 reasons. First, they’ve heard some tragic story about a girl pulling all of her eyelashes out. A good way to avoid doing that would be to only curl your eyelashes when you are sitting on something stable. The second reason is that they just honestly don’t know how.

Curling your eyelashes opens up your eyes and makes your lashes appear thicker and longer. If you’re not sure how to properly curl your lashes then look up one of the many hundreds of tutorials on Youtube. It’s easy. It doesn’t take a lot of time. And it makes a huge difference in how open your eyes appear.

Why Your Instagram Isn’t Blowing Up Like It Could Be

A woman who feels beautiful in her own skin truly does stand out. Not because of the perfect lipstick or hair, but because her confidence and self-assurance are eye-catching. Do what you need to feel beautiful, and the people around you will be able to tell a noticeable difference.

The post 5 Tips for a More Confident You appeared first on InstantELLA.

Celebrate successes

3 Reasons Celebrating Your Many Accomplishments Is Critical To Your Success

It may sound obvious, but sometimes we move too quickly to fully appreciate and reflect upon our successes. No success is too small to ignore celebration; if there’s a target that’s been met, whether professionally or socially, then make sure you give yourself the credit you deserve. That satisfaction of meeting goals and celebrating achievements will be vital to inspiring the drive for future endeavours.

Each success comes from a fresh start

13 Uplifting Quotes About New Beginnings

No matter what has happened in the past, each new opportunity should be considered its own entity. Whether this is in a sporting or business capacity, let each venture stand on its own merits. While past successes have developed character and knowledge that will prove useful, treat each new opportunity as if it is your first.

Take it straight from the horse’s mouth; Winx is widely renowned as the world’s leading racehorse, often called the Usain Bolt of horse-racing. Her 28-race winning streak includes winning the Cox Plate three times in a row, so it is no surprise that comparing the odds for the race reveals that Winx is favourite to triumph again this year. Winx starts each race alongside her competitors, but her continued enthusiasm to win sees her consistently move away from the field. This can be applied to many aspects of life. When that enthusiasm subsides, it would be fitting for Winx to go out on a high note.

Go out on a high

If You Don’t Eliminate This Habit, You Will Never Grow

Knowing when to stop something that is going well is never easy. George Costanza, Jason Alexander’s character in Seinfeld, adopts a novel approach. Having found himself getting carried away after making a successful joke in business meetings, George decided to leave the room as soon as he received a big laugh. That way, those in the room remembered him for comedy gold rather than one bad joke too many.

George Costanza decided to trial going out on a high note. Source: Seinfeld via Facebook.

This is not really a suitable approach to directly adopt in the real world, but the sentiment is valuable. Going out on a high is an effective way to stop achievements from being undermined. This is the only time it is worth taking lifestyle advice from George Costanza.

The post 3 Ways To Cope With Success appeared first on InstantELLA.

But you don’t have to let those tendencies take control. When you find yourself on a downslope, take some time to do something that can boost your mood and help you feel good all day, regardless of what might still be the same. Who knows, your choice to do something different may bring new people or opportunities into your life!

Wear a Feel-Good Outfit

3 Social Media Tips to Make Your Fashion Account Instagram-Famous

Maybe you have a dress code to keep, or maybe you’ve been doing the bare minimum for your appearance the last few weeks. Change things up by wearing something that you feel good in. You may need a day of jeans and sweatshirts to break things up, or go the other way and dress in your most killer outfit to put some bounce in your step that other people will be sure to notice.

If you have a dress code to stay in line with, splurging on a new blouse or pair of boots could be just the thing. And for those with uniforms, jewelry like rings or earrings could be just enough to brighten your attitude. It’s all about feeling comfortable in your own skin and remembering what makes you feel like you.

Take Extra Time with Personal Hygiene

5 Important Things Your Feet Are Trying to Tell You about Your Body

You probably routinely take a shower, wash your face, and put on deodorant before you head out the door, but it may be time to slow down and really focus on yourself with your personal hygiene. Part of feeling good and healthy is also feeling clean and taken care of.

So take a few more minutes standing under the hot water or take a relaxing bath instead. Take extra care when brushing your teeth, as recommended by the Family Dental Health Center, and don’t forget to floss thoroughly. You can also change up the products you use to brighten your smile, alter the smell of your hair, or bring out the color in your eyes.

Take a Vacation From Your Phone

Ask Yourself – Could You Survive Without Technology?

Life is already busy without the constant lure of apps and notifications from your phone, but media has become such a necessity that it’s easy to forget to detach from it. You may not be able to take a full vacation right now and leave your phone behind, but don’t sell short the small ways you can get some separation.

You can designate your work breaks as technology free, leave your phone at home for an hour while you take a walk outside, and even turn your phone off overnight. Sure, it will be difficult at first, but the break will allow you some time to yourself to think, breathe, and spend quality time doing what you love with people you love.

Balance Healthy Foods with Tasty Treats

Healthy Snacks to Keep You Going When It’s Busy

Some people may tell you eating healthy is the only way to make your body feel good when it comes to food, but extreme food restrictions can also be adding to the monotony you’re feeling. Likewise, too many comfort foods can leave you feeling lethargic, out of shape, and even sick.

Feeling good about your diet is all about balance. So run to the grocery store and pick up a box of your favorite cookies for snacks, but don’t forget your favorite fruit or vegetable, too. Be mindful about how many times you eat out and start making a habit of drinking more water.

Indulge in some Personal TLC

8 Ways To Make Smarter Financial Decisions

You may need more than just fresh fruits and clean hair to boost your mood, so some pampering may be in order. Visiting a spa or similar institutions is not only a retreat for your body but you can find some relief for your mind as well.

If you experience a lot of stress, schedule a massage to work out the knots in your muscles. If you do a lot of intricate work with your hands, go for the manicure, and if you’re always on your feet, a pedicure is for you.

And if you don’t want to spend extra time and money outside of the house, a good old-fashioned nap or sing-along to your favorite album can do wonders.

Assume the Good

What to Do for a Friend with a Long-Term Illness

A big part of how you feel is mental, and with all the breaks in the world, it can still be hard to come back to the drawing board without being annoyed or reacting negatively as you have in the past.

Make an effort during your personal retreats to think positively. As you watch the people around you, try to assume the good. Is the intern badgering your coworker or sincerely trying to figure out the right way to do a task?

As you practice giving people the benefit of the doubt, and even choosing to be amused rather than frustrated about things out of your control in those small moments, a feel-good way of thinking will begin creeping into the rest of your day as well.

The post How To Feel Good In Today’s World appeared first on InstantELLA.

The Keto diet is basically a low carb, high fat (LCHF) diet. You cut out all grains and high-carb foods like potatoes, and many partakers of the diet also cut out all sugar. The idea is to stay under 20 net carbs every day (sometimes more if you workout intensely). Many researchers who are pro keto, have claimed that the keto diet takes us back to what our ancient ancestors ate.

While it might sound terrible to cut out all of your favorite sweets and comfort foods, the benefits might entice you to try it if you’ve struggled with other diets.

Weight Loss

10 Unexpected Health Benefits of the Keto Diet

Okay, we have to list this one. Weight loss is the number one reason people start a keto diet. As your body adapts to the high fat diet and is denied its regular carb-energy intake, it starts to burn fat for energy instead of glucose. Initially, most of your weight loss will be water weight. But you’ll find that the natural fatty foods are much more sustaining than your carb-loaded snacks and that you can go longer in between snack breaks and meals. You’ll naturally eat less calories because the keto diet can sustain you longer, thus, losing more weight in the long run.

Dental Health

8 Things You Should Know Before Going to the Dentist

When you cut out all the sugar you were consuming before, that will naturally have a much better impact on your dental health. Of course you still need to brush and floss, but less sugar means less opportunity for bacteria to form and eat away at your enamel. Professionals like those at Washington Periodontics will have a much easier time at your regular cleanings when you cut out sugar.

Disease Prevention

Getting Proper Medical Care for Your Family

While this is a little harder to prove overall, there have been many instances that show the keto diet helping with disease control and prevention.

Research suggests that people with type 2 diabetes can see improvements in their HbA1c levels when they go on the keto diet.

Others have seen improvements in their mood, particular those with bipolar disorders. It can even help people with epilepsy, by significantly reducing the amount of seizures a person experiences.

‘I Tried The Keto Diet For Weight Loss And It Did Not Disappoint’

The keto diet isn’t for everyone though, particularly pregnant women and those with kidney damage or anyone who is at risk for heart disease. If you want to try keto to lose weight, but are concerned about the potential impacts of it on your health, talk to your doctor or a nutritionist to find out if it’s right for you.

All diets work much better when complimented by mild exercise, quality sleep, and stress management techniques. Do what you need to take care of your body and ensure a healthy, happy life.

The post 3 Great Benefits of the Keto Diet appeared first on InstantELLA.

But now one big question comes to mind: where will you live? On campus or off campus is the question, which one is the best option for you? Should you choose on-campus housing or off campus? And what does that even mean?1

Can You Be Successful With Online Learning?

Here are a few pros and cons for housing on campus and off campus from some student apartments for BYU-I housing, which can hopefully make the decision process a little easier.

On-Campus

Prepare For The Future: Online Education and the Cloud

The definition of on-campus housing is that the housing is considered to be on the actual campus, the most well-known type of on-campus housing being dorms.

Pros

5 Hacks to Be a Better Learner Using Technology

There are many pros to living on campus, especially if you are new to college and this is your first semester. Also, a lot of on-campus housing includes a meal plan, meaning you won’t have to worry about cooking.

The first pro is that you are on campus, meaning you are close to all the amenities that campus offers such as the school cafeteria or gym.

Another is that you most likely won’t need a car because you will be within walking distance for most parts of the campus.

Cons

How to Choose an Online University

One con that many attribute to on-campus housing are that the people who tend to live there are mostly first or second semester students, so there isn’t a lot of variety in age and experience.

Also, some may find concentrating a little more difficult due to a large amount of activity in or outside the rooms.

Another con is that most of the on-campus housing means having more roommates than some of the off-campus housing.

Off-campus

Steps Towards Creating a Safer Campus

Off-campus housing is most apartment complexes that are around or very near the school but are technically not in school housing. Some colleges even have an approved housing list, which differs from just the community housing for that city.

Pros

America’s Up And Coming Tech Boom Cities

The off-campus housing means a little more independence and freedom, which can give the student more opportunity to learn responsibility and accountability.

Off-campus housing can also offer a little more variety of students, as well as more freedom for activities and such.

Another benefit of off-campus housing is that it can sometimes offer the student more privacy than on-campus housing can, with opportunities for private instead of shared rooms.

Also, there are instances where off-campus housing can be a little more cost-effective than on-campus housing just because there are more price options to choose from.

Cons

How Your parking Lot Could Be Losing You Business

One of the cons of off-campus housing is that depending on where you live it can be more of a commute to campus and may even require a car.

Sometimes with off-campus housing, you may need to make a little more effort to get involved in social activities on campus.

Also, there may be times off-campus where the tenants may be more rambunctious and noisier than on-campus housing.

Even though there are pros and cons for both on-campus and off-campus housing, either way, there is a great option for you and your needs.

The post Off-Campus Versus On Campus: The Pros And Cons of Choosing Student Housing appeared first on InstantELLA.

For folks like us, workspace becomes critical to our productivity. Both my husband and are very ordered and organized. We cannot work in clutter and need our space to be creative. More importantly our space has to bear our personality whether it be artsy, elegant yet minimalistic like me or hardcore, reflective and precise like him.

Keeping all of this in mind. We decided we needed to re-decorate the office. The clincher was to do it on a low budget, making use of what was already in the house as much as possible.  And that’s where creativity, resourcefulness and confidence comes in. Here are a few ideas we put into reality and which we hope will inspire you when you decide to re-decorate and re-organize your workspace. Remember to get all your electrical grounding checked if doing any proper DIY to prevent house fires and stop electrical faults happening. 

Utility is key!

Get rid of the clutter. Make sure you only have what you absolutely need taking up space in your home office. Utility means functionality to me, and that’s where I think a lot of us make trade-offs, having to sacrifice creativity and art to functionality. But I didn’t and here’s how:

• • Desk: For us, this meant having just one desk instead of 2. The way to get around seating issues is to find a desk that allows for leg space on at least 2 sides if not all the way around. (aha! Now you get it.)
  • Calendars: The world may have gone digital, but I still use the traditional calendar. It’s convenient and taking up wall space is always better than taking up desk space when you already have a small desk to begin with. It’s also artsy. What do I mean? Have you ever tried taking a Video Gamer’s calendar (in our case it was Halo that blended perfectly well with the rest of the office theme) and hanging it to look like a poster? Try it. High chance you’ll love it!

• Coasters: I get through my day with at least 3 caffeine breaks so instead of having dull boring coasters, I picked up a set of 4 Star Wars’ coasters at Target (on clearance) with a black and white Storm Trooper theme to match the black and white casing of my husband’s gaming PC in the office. Needless to say the coaster is theme appropriate, does it’s job and when it’s not, it still makes for an interesting piece of art!

Space & Color

Ours is a small workspace. I discovered however, that if you invest in white furniture and add some mirrors to the mix, it can do wonders. That’s why we chose an unused 3.5 ft X 2 ft vanity mirror to add a sense of space and depth to the room.

If you have to have color, stick to 1 or 2 only and play around with shades of the same color rather than use a third. For us this was red and blue and the theme runs through the posters and wall art in the office.

Be sure to pick up pieces from reputable places such as Weaver Furniture Barn. No matter what ideas you have floating around in your head you don’t want subpar pieces in your office. It should be a cozy space that fosters productivity, so when selecting pieces it is important to bear this in mind.

The biggest value add to the office however, has been this sturdy white storage cube organizer we recently purchased online at Walmart. It is not only useful, acting as a bookshelf, curio display shelf and storage (for all the ugly stuff in the office people don’t want you to see. Lol) but lends modernity to the room. Ours may look like one piece but is actually 2 single cubes (bought separately) and mounted on the lower 3- piece cube. I went a step further and added a white magazine/file holder (which had I lying around the house) to the ensemble which may not even be noticeable because it blends in so well. Here’s another tip: everything is art. Be attentive to odds and ends around the house , which if paired well with other items can turn into a beautiful utility and would definitely save you a trip to the store.

Lighting, like mirrors can add beauty and space to a room. A workspace definitely needs this. But ceiling lights can be harsh sometimes, kill the aesthetics of the room and be very unnerving for people trying to work. A soft light on the other hand can be relaxing, help your focus and give you that much needed break to meet deadlines. We added medium voltage contemporary, light-weight lamps to the room. I also put together a decorative light bowl, using a spare glass bowl, LED lights and some old potpourri fill ups I no longer need. If you don’t have potpourri, you can use candles, decorative stones or shells. Run with your imagination here

Reflect your personality

This is undoubtedly the most important part of decorating your home office. It’s your office and must reflect your personality. As a child, like most boys, my husband collected many action figures from Star Trek, Spawn, Pokemon, GI Joe, etc. So it was no surprise that when I came across a ton of them in the basement and began to organize his collection, he suggested we use a few to mount in the office. If action figures was his thing, the light bowls were mine and what goes better with light than greenery, so I added a few (fake) indoor table plants. It makes the room more aesthetics. And who doesn’t have stickers and cutouts, too interesting to get rid of, but also too small to do anything meaningful with? I just took a few interesting high quality curated stickers a client had given my husband to sample, mounted them on white paper (kind of like a collage) and framed them in a small desk frame. My husband loves it and says it motivates him to ‘do more’ and ‘keep it simple’ at work because that’s exactly what the stickers say.

My husband and I are proud of our new home office and the short time we took to get it done. It’s our space and one of the prettiest rooms in the house, decorated on a low-cost budget. Breathing new life into old space isn’t difficult to do and if we can do it, so could you!

The post Fun DIY Projects For Your Home-Office appeared first on InstantELLA.

But here’s the thing about New Year’s Resolutions. Sometimes, they are nothing more than thin air…. forgettable and easily blown away. So here’s where all of us could use a little help to make our New Year’s Resolutions a reality.

You Really Need This

A Psychologist’s Secrets To Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick

Making resolutions are good. They recognize and acknowledge that not everyone and not every situation is perfect. Resolutions, if made correctly are motivators of encouragement. Despite this however, according to a Brain Research Institute survey, only 41% Americans usually make New Year’s Resolutions and of this, only 9.2% felt they were successful in achieving their resolution. So, when I made my 2017 New Year’s Resolution List, I made sure that the most necessary ones topped my list. For example, Lose that 2016 winter weight (I don’t need to tell you that nearly all of us are guilty of over-eating during the holidays) and  Learn Left-Side driving (because we Asians drive on the right normally and being unable to drive handicaps me in a country where public transport is very rare). Make sure your resolution is something that benefits you. If you are not convinced that you need resolutions, you will not be convinced that you need to stick with them.

Make Choices Fun

7 Secrets Of People Who Keep Their New Year’s Resolutions

Resolutions vary in terms of type and duration. It may also sometimes vary in terms of demographics – gender specific or age specific resolutions. Because of these variations, it’s very difficult to narrow down some of the best resolutions to have. The easiest way to choose is to reflect on what you have accomplished; select a few meaningful goals that will make an impact; be prepared to ‘stop doing’ a few things you normally would that don’t benefit you and by ceasing to do them , will ensure you have time to do the things that do benefit you. My personal tip to choosing resolutions is to add at least one Fun Resolution. For me, who was never into ‘gaming’ I included ‘Be a sport: try out a few video games in 2017’. This would ensure I spend more family time with my husband and kids who are hardcore gamers, allow myself some much needed relaxation time and  possibly learn a thing or 2 about video games while I’m at it.

Initiate Driver mode!

When making out your list, be sure you schedule it i.e if it is an ongoing resolution like effective exercise, set aside a specific time each day for it. If it is a one-time achievement like building your own gaming computer (this was my husband’s 2016 resolution, a project he successfully achieved), schedule time for that as well. Scheduling your resolution makes it easier for you to stick to it.  Be committed to your cause, simply because, no one is going to do it for you. That said, it is also important for you to know that there may be a few initial setbacks and challenges, making it seem more difficult for you to  execute your resolution(s). In her article, How Long It Takes to Form a New Habit  Maria Popova, explains:

“It’s like trying to run up a hill that starts out steep and gradually levels off. At the start you’re making great progress upwards, but the closer you get to the peak, the smaller the gains in altitude with each step.” Lastly reward your efforts. Every time you make any headway with your overall resolution, treat yourself to a prize. This will motivate and energize you to take on the next steps towards completion.

New Years Resolution Statistics

Track Progress: Have an accountability partner.

2 things here. Firstly, it’s important that your resolution, like all SMART goals, must be measurable because this is what will identify gaps in execution and possibly predict whether you will succeed or fail at accomplishing your resolution at the end of the year. Secondly, while your resolution is yours and you will need to execute it on your own, it’s wise to have an accountable partner to keep you on track. Depending on your resolution, it’s schedule time and place of execution, this can be a spouse, a work colleague, a family member or a friend. Having an accountable partner will not only provide motivation and companionship but intensify your efforts to accomplish what you started out to do.

So there you have it, The Essential Guide To Making Your New Year Resolutions & Sticking With Them! I hope you find these tips helpful. 2017 has just begun and it’s not too late to make a few Resolutions for yourself if you haven’t already.

The post New Year, New Beginnings: The Essential Guide To Making Your New Year Resolutions! appeared first on InstantELLA.