#NewYearGoals
How many of you have been personally victimized by the new year's resolution bandwagon?
Especially on social media, it seems everywhere we turn there’s a post about making this year better than the last, setting goals and intentions, and actually following through. To quote Taylor Swift, “I mean, this is just exhausting.”
Whether you feel the need to finally start exercising, or promise to make more family time, or read that book your friend keeps nagging you about, outside pressure to improve in some way is inevitable. And if you can’t avoid it, then let’s learn to embrace it.
Though January 1 may seem like eons ago, the pressure to start a new resolution never seems to fade. And sure, January 1 is a great day to start a goal, but so is March 15, April 5, August 23… you get the point. It doesn’t matter when you feel the urge to begin a new habit, set a new goal, or turn back to an old goal with newfound motivation, the point is you want a shift in your life.
Allow us to offer some unique goals that you can throw into your year, whether you want to call them “resolutions” or not. . TBH, this is a list we need for ourselves too, which is why we’re sharing them here. A little more calm in the chaos? Sign us up.
And remember: any day is a good day to start the journey of incorporating a new goal into your life that brings you to the next best version of yourself.
Here we go:
#2022PossibleGoal: 10 Minutes of Daily Mindfulness
I know what you’re thinking: Ugh, meditation? That’s a no for me, dog.
We get it, but it doesn’t have to be paiinful.
Mindfulness is not about making your mind blank–if you’re anything like us, that’s just impossible. We’re always thinking about something: what we’re having for lunch, our life’s regrets, why Pete Davidson is getting so many hot dates… it’s a lot to cover in the waking hours. . So rather than make your mind go namaste blank, mindfulness practice focuses on namaste present.
Tons of studies show how just a small amount of daily mindfulness practice can reduce levels of stress and anxiety, as well as an increased ability to be present in life; something we know is easier said than done. Being present means paying attention to what you’re doing in the now, and not multitasking or ‘focusing’ on three things at once. This can be as simple as focusing on your breathing in between calls, scheduling “food time” where all you focus on is eating the meal in front of you for 20-30 minutes, or turning your phone off during family time. Whatever works for you is what will work.
Need a little help getting started? We suggest the 10 Percent Happier or Mindful Minutes podcasts.
#NewYearPossibleGoal: Watch More Productive Media
Don’t get us wrong–we love a Netflix binge. But what if you made it a goal to spend some of that time watching more productive content?
Think about it like this: instead of watching a 20-minute episode of Schitt’s Creek that you’ve seen five times, what if you spent that time watching a TEDx Talk about a topic you don’t know much about? Instead of watching the third Harry Potter movie, what if you watched a documentary instead?
Watching media that is more thought-provoking, educational, and beneficial can serve you well, and it can also be a great conversation starter for those awkward Zoom lulls, socially distanced happy hours, or something to bring up in your next job interview.
We support your Marvel movie marathon, but a new superpower could be consuming more educational media in 2022.
#NewYearPossibleGoal: Practice Gratitude
It’s too easy to get caught up in what we don’t have. We haven’t bought a house yet. We haven’t gotten a promotion. We don’t have that dream car or more simply, work life balance. While it is beneficial to have your eyes set on your next job, the next vacation, or dreams of moving to a new city, getting too caught up in future-oriented thinking can leave you forgetting to be grateful for what you have now.
This year, a goal could be to acknowledge what you are grateful for today. What does this look like? Each day, write down five things you are grateful for. These can be big things, such as your re-decorated bathroom or the vacation you have coming up. Or, it can be small things, like how yummy your iced coffee was or a really peaceful car ride to school pick-up.
Doing this daily practice can ease that ambitious thought pattern of always craving more and forgetting to be thankful for what you have now.
#NewYearPossibleGoal: Find your “Why” at Work
Have you ever noticed that the first question we ask each other is what we do for work? Think about changing the question to why we do our work. Changes things, doesn’t it? We’re all striving to put that saying of “never work a day in your life” to practice, but focusing on the ‘what’ instead of the ‘why’ is a barrier to doing so.
There’s no doubt you have a “why” behind the work that you do. It’s that passion and drive that gets you out of bed each day to go to the office (or, well, the computer nowadays). If we focus on that more, it can help get us through the tough times.
This year, make it a goal to figure out your “why” at work and lean into it every day. Maybe even find a way to bring a new hobby into your life with that “why” as the backbone. For instance, maybe you work to fund your children’s sports team fees because you love watching them on the field. Or you work to save money for a really important vacation for you and your partner. Giving meaning to the paycheck is a #gamechanger.
#NewYearPossibleGoal: Do An Act of Kindness Every Day
We can all agree on one thing: this world is a tough one to live in.
If you and others reading this blog post can set a goal to do one act of kindness each day, think about the world we could be living in. Gift a friend your favorite book, be kind to a server, support a small business, have a judgment-free day. What do these all have in common? They give you that warm, ooey-gooey, “liquid gold” feeling as Glennon Doyle puts it when you do something good in the world.
Why not make it a goal to cultivate that feeling on a regular basis and encourage others to do the same? One random act of kindness can spark another, which sparks more and more. Think about what kind of year 2022 could be for us all if we are just… kind. If it helps, think about the anti-Karen approach to shopping at Home Depot.
We hope one or more of these goals inspires you to take action in 2022. While some of these may seem too small to make an impact, the repetition will fundamentally change your daily life, and overall perspective. And, it’s important to note that signing up for these goals does not require you to be perfect; in fact, we think perfection is totally pre-pandemic.
We put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves to be perfect in everything that we do, and even just one tiny slip-up can mentally set us back weeks. Reminder: you will not flawlessly take on this new goal! The point is you’ll be striving for a different version of yourself, and that comes with time.
Perhaps another #NewYearPossibleGoal could be to let go of perfection…see, the list goes on and on! Whichever goal you have your eyes set out on, we hope you are feeling it in 2022.
This article was authored by Rachel Ornstein, Spur Impact Marketing Intern & University of Delaware student.