I’m not sure how many of you reading this, like me, have often thought about whether to even make resolutions at all. We make resolutions, sometimes grand ones – losing weight, going vegan, pursuing a different hobby or learning a new skill, getting a passport, travelling the world (you get the drift) – only to break them or worse still not even give them a go before giving up all together. And that’s ok.

This year, I told myself, I’d take my time formulating resolutions.  Instead of a time bound, tangible resolution (like  the ones mentioned above), I’d concentrate on improving my mindset, daily – as means to an end – which will assist me in achieving those time bound, tangible, resolutions. Here are some of my practical New Year 2020 Daily Resolutions:

Patience & Perseverance

The Unconventional Ways You Can Relax The Mind And The Body

In this generation of instant gratification, having patience is a rare commodity. As a mother, wife & professional I get impatient & frustrated easily & on a daily basis when things don’t go my way or when tasks are not completed in the time, I consider appropriate. My anxiety doesn’t help either. So, I’ve decided to be more patient with myself for starters. I’ve decided to do my best, be less judgmental of people & situations and persevere.

Obedience, Without Question or Grumbling

5 Resolutions You Can Actually Keep In The New Year

Someone asks you to do something that you know sounds like a good idea. But you don’t think too hard about it, you don’t obsess over what could potentially go wrong or how you’d look doing it. You just say ‘Yes’ (with a smile). Oh! How liberating to not worry for once & just go with the flow. For me, it’s so far helped saved time, precious time I am no using to focus on creativity & execution.

Generosity of Time, Words  & Actions

A Healthy Office Environment

Easy to understand, difficult to execute. Being generous with my deeds & an attitude of service to others has always come naturally to me. It’s the generosity of my words & time that I have a tough time with. I’m naturally feisty & sarcastic. And as for time, it’s the one thing none of us have control over, so I am very stingy with mine. But though we can never control – shorten or lengthen – real time, we can also choose how & who to spend time with it and therein lies the generosity. I’ve been more generous with my time lately & it’s brough blessings on my family, friends & me!

Avoiding Acedia

Mood, Anxiety, and Design

Acedia, often linked to sloth and the 7 Deadly Sins is “a state of (mental) restlessness and inability either to work or to pray”. Whereas Sloth is physical laziness, Acedia is more of a metal indifference, intrusive thinking & purposefully distracting yourself with other thoughts or actions, to avoid dealing with a priority. Controlling the mind is harder than controller the body.  I’ve been guilty of this several times, knowingly or unknowingly, throughout the day. But now that I know what Acedia is, I’m more aware & guarded in my thoughts. It’s given me more clarity to prioritize my tasks throughout the day & directly helped me complete the right kind of work in the right time.

Withdraw from Social Media

Self-Motivation: How To Ensure Productivity While You Work From Home

I cringe at this one as I’m sure most of us do. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube & the rest have taken over our lives! Wrong. We’ve let them. Locking up phones, temporarily deactivating Social media accounts & taking technology detox breaks are good ways to break the habit. Recently however, someone suggested another solution & probably the best one I’ve heard so far. Every time I think of reaching for my phone, I look at the person next to me instead & engage with that person, instead of a lifeless phone!

An Attitude of Gratitude

The Neuroscience of Gratitude and How It Affects Anxiety & Grief

Toughie! Many scientific studies have show than being more grateful has a physical impact on a person’s brain and is directly linked to increased calm and a sense of happiness. That said most of us are ungrateful throughout the day, when we complain about our jobs, problems with co-workers, the never-ending chores at home, even simple things like not enjoying our meals, or the way we spend our relaxation time. Complaining & being dissatisfied are symptoms of an ungrateful attitude. But everyday is a new day and an opportunity for me to be more grateful!

Open-Mindedness

How Great Leaders Align Their Company With Their Vision

Simply put, this involves being receptive to a wide variety of ideas, arguments, and information. For me being open minded means, giving up the impulse to react immediately and instead listen & assess a person or situation. It was hard at first, because my natural habit to interject kicked in. But I realized open-mindedness  is a necessary ability in order to think critically and rationally. It’s a habit that needs to be cultivated and we’re never too old to develop good habits

Daily examination of Conscience

4 Ways To Practice Self-Care Today

This practice is common as a spiritual exercise among Christians and Catholics and involves a ‘review of one’s past thoughts, words, actions, and omissions for the purpose of ascertaining their conformity with, or deviation from, the moral law’. I don’t see why this practice cannot be applied to our secular, everyday lives. It would be similar to a year end job review – what are the things we did well, how can we improve on our weaknesses and what would the outcome look like? I believe a daily examination of conscience will eventually make me a better version of myself. This doesn’t only have to be for adults, so I’ve also begun to help my kids adopt this positive practice.

If you enjoyed reading this or agree that some of these are areas of concern for you that could use a bit of improvement, feel free to adopt some or all of my New Year 2020 Daily Resolutions for yourself. Remember to be kind to yourself. I for one, am rooting for you. Good Luck!

The post 2020 Unconventional New Year’s Resolution for a New Decade appeared first on InstantELLA.

Why is that? Why is it so hard for people to stick to their guns and make it more than a month before completely giving up on themselves?

Psychology Today poses the question, “You may think you are interested in changing and you very well may be, but are you ready?”

We tend to jump into huge goals that soon overwhelm us and cause us to give up because we weren’t mentally ready for such drastic changes in our lives.

Get Goals Under Control

4 tips to achieve your goals in 2018, according to a leadership expert

It is also easy to get discouraged when we find that the changes we were hoping for aren’t happening as quickly as we had planned. We set unrealistic goals, like losing five pounds every week, and when we hit February we are frustrated that instead of being 20 pounds thinner, we are only down 10 pounds. We forget to rejoice in our small victories and instead focus on the unrealistic goals that we set and didn’t meet.

We set ourselves up for failure. We aren’t ready for the goals we make, we set goals that are unattainable, and then we fail at our goals and give up. To make matters worse, we don’t learn from our mistakes and we do the same thing to ourselves the next year, repeating the process of high hopes and dashed dreams.

How do we end this cycle of self-sabotage?

How to Make (and Keep) a New Year’s Resolution

We start small. If the goal is to be healthier, then we need to do what healthy people do. Speak to your doctor about safe and attainable changes you can make to your lifestyle. If you need to feel immediate gratification, visit your dentist for a teeth cleaning. Start the new year off with little things that help you feel the difference and set proper goals.

If exercise is an important change to you, but you never go to the gym, let alone leave your house, then it might be necessary to start with a walk around your block. There is nothing wrong with beginning simple, in fact, there is everything right about going that route because you’ll be able to keep up with your changes.

Perhaps you want to eat out less. Your first step could be learning quick, easy meals so when those hunger rumbles start you can still opt for a quick and easy route that is already prepared at your home.

New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be huge to be life-changing. The more manageable they are the more likely you are to succeed. Your new year doesn’t have to start on January first. You can start the new you today with setting simple attainable goals that will keep you moving in the right direction.

The post A New Year, A Healthier You appeared first on InstantELLA.

Whenever a new year comes around it can cause reflection on all the things you did in that year and all the things you want to make sure you do in the upcoming year.

How to Stay Safe During the Icy Season

New Year’s resolutions can be hard because most of the time it can seem like you put in all this effort to make them happen but next thing you know it’s June and more than half (or almost all) of those goals haven’t been accomplished.

Four Runner’s Gadgets to Get You Marathon Fit

But part of having smart goals, whether they are for the New Year or whenever, is to make sure that they are realistic and achievable.

Here are five ideas for resolutions that are both realistic and achievable and can have you feeling proud of actually keeping the promises you made to yourself and others.

Say yes more

3 Reasons You Should Say YES More Often

This is a resolution that can be easily achieved even starting the very first day of the New Year.

It can be easy to get in the habit of saying no or passing up opportunities because we are afraid or don’t want to mess with the status quo.

But life is about taking risks and trying new things so instead of saying no or thinking “maybe later,” when an opportunity presents it, say yes and try it.

Maybe it’s something you will never do again, but at least you know you tried it and you will be proud of yourself for doing it.

One veggie at a time

5 Veggies You Can Grow Indoors!

Instead of being too general with your resolution of “eating healthier” and setting yourself up to not follow through, try adding one new veggie to every meal that you eat.

When you start off simple and small you will find yourself adding more and more veggies and fruits, and before you know it you will be eating “healthy,” and it all started with one simple carrot.

Make your physical well-being a priority

New Year, New Beginnings: The Essential Guide To Making Your New Year Resolutions!

Most of us find that we can look back and realize it’s been quite some time since we’ve had a physical from our doctor, dental visit, or eye exam.

It’s not enough to want to just “be healthy” in the New Year, you have to make sure everything is actually going ok with your physical health by going to see people who can look for things you may not be seeing or noticing.

You can even schedule an appointment right now to have ready for you in the New Year! Just call your local dentist like Grove City Dental.

Preventative medicine is always the best medicine.

Get off the screens

Pros & Cons of Being a Digital Nomad

Screen time takes up a lot of people’s time nowadays, and sometimes we don’t really realize just how much.

In the New Year you can monitor that time just to see how much, and luckily there are some pretty easy ways to do it. Even most smartphones now have a way to keep track of it and see what your daily and weekly usage looks like.

Ask Yourself – Could You Survive Without Technology?

Once you find how much that time is, slowly cut it down by small increments of time.

Studies have shown that watching too much TV or spending multiple hours in front of a computer can actually shorten your life, so lessening your screen time can actually increase your life.

Go somewhere new

Company Expansions: How To Tech’ Your Business To The Next Level

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to visit some exotic, foreign place, unless you have the means and the time to do so and in that case go ahead!

3 Ways To Cope With Success

But if you need to start out small do it by going to a new restaurant, or exploring a new part of town, or driving to a nearby city you’ve never been to.

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