New Year Goals & Resolutions: How to Make 2020 Count | Herbal Goodness

Jan 05, 2019

A lot of us are guilty of making New Year goals and resolutions only to falter a few months into the new year. It all starts with minutes, the minutes become hours, the hours turn into days, days into months, and before we realize it, another year is gone.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

As humans, we tend to underestimate the time we have to live. But you only need to use a simple formula to realize just how much time we waste.

Assuming you are 40 years old today, do you know you have been alive for a little over 350,000 hours (350,400 hours to be exact)?

I figured this out by multiplying 40 years by 365 days (that’s 14,600 days) and then multiplying this by 24 hours for each day.

How have you made your time count so far?

Look, if you take the time to consider the different aspects of your life you want to improve and come up with a detailed plan, there is no reason why you shouldn’t start improving your life. And it always pays to remember that nobody else is going to do this for you.

Create a List of What You Want to Work on in 2020

Most of us love goals and the start of the year is always a perfect time to hit refresh and start anew.

But as you too well know, coming up with a list of New Year resolutions is the easy part, following through the harder.

Creating goals simply for the sake of creating is not enough. But if we really take the time to think about what we want to improve in earnest, we can work towards making it a habit in our lives. The good thing with habits is they become second-nature, so pursuing your goals becomes effortless.

When it comes to goals, keeping it specific and measurable is key. Set practical goals that are easy to achieve and specify a date for when you want to cross them off your list.

Create a List of What You are not Going to Do

Often times, we tend to focus on what we plan to do – which is a good thing. However, also important is the need to create another list of the things you are not going to do each day, week and through the year.

This could be anything that might be getting in the way of achieving your goals – limiting your social media use, eating less junk, a little less TV or whatever your vice or guilty pleasure is.

What Happens When You Mess up?

Life is not a smooth path, and if it were, it would quickly become boring and uneventful, if you care to think about it.

Life is full of dynamics and will occasionally throw a monkey wrench into our best-laid plans, sometimes sending us tumbling down so hard we wonder if we will ever find the strength and motivation to get up and keep going.

It is always good to be cognizant of this fact so that when the inevitable happens, we do not give up.

These hiccups don’t have to be anything major. It could be something as simple, but far-reaching, as failure to adhere to a healthy meal plan, holding off an important hobby, postponing hitting the gym or doing your morning/evening runs, getting caught up in the mundane to the point you neglect self, etc.

We are all guilty of shelving activities we have planned for or know we should be doing. We tell ourselves that we can start again next week. The thing is, though, you don’t have to wait for next week or next year to start over again. The best time to start cultivating a new habit is now.

Make Each Day Count

The best thing you can do each day is to make each day count. Avoid getting preoccupied with what you did not do today and rather focus on what you can still do to make today count.

Think about the aspects of your life you would want to improve. It could be work, nutrition, family, spirituality, you name it. Then narrow down the specifics you would like to work on under each and get started on it.

Keep these tips in mind when setting your New Year goals and resolutions and you will be amazed by how effectively you will take to them.

What will you do today to make today count?

What will you do to make 2020 count?

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