New Year, New Habits

 

2015 is shaping up to be a great year for me. I have finally started being more consistent with a few things in my life.

I am doing better about exercising and training for different running races. I am also more consistent with setting hours aside to work on my blog each day.

With each new year, it is always a good idea to set some goals for the year. I’m not really a resolution kind of girl, so setting goals is more up my alley.

I’m still developing my list of goals for the year. In this process, though, I am discovering that there are actually a few habits that I want to adopt this year.

I think developing habits can help us achieve goals more quickly and more efficiently. Because when you think about it, a lot of our goals consist of small habits that accumulate over time.

Here are a few habits I hope to adopt in 2015:

Check my calendar twice a day-I love my paper planner! However, it does me no good to have a planner if I’m not checking it enough to make sure I’m getting everything done. I want to adopt the habit of checking my calendar at night before I go to bed just to make sure I’ve accomplished what I needed to that day. Checking it at night will also give me peace of mind that I’ve either completed all my tasks or have scheduled uncompleted tasks for another day.

I am also going to check my calendar first thing in the morning. This way I’ll have a better handle on my schedule and will be less likely to forget about any important tasks I need to accomplish that day.

Weekly planning-In addition to checking my calendar twice a day, I am going to set aside time each week to plan for the following week. I’m still tweaking that process right now, but having time to make sure I completed all of the current week’s tasks, plan next week’s schedule and tasks, and capturing any new information I may have received that week are all important components of my weekly planning time. I hope to be able to share more about this process in a few weeks.

Gratitude-I think it’s so important to count our blessings on a daily basis. Life is hard, and it’s easy to get discouraged. Writing down what we are grateful for can renew our perspectives and give us the energy and confidence we need to face whatever is going on in our lives. I have a space on my weekly planner pages where I can write a few things down. I can’t wait to be able to flip back through several weeks and see how God has been at work in my life.

Encouragement-A by-product of gratitude is encouragement. When we realize how much we have been blessed, then it spurs us on to encourage others to help them renew their perspectives or offer them hope. I want to offer some kind of encouragement to someone every day if possible. This may be just an affirmation to my kids or husband, sending a note to a friend, or verbally encouraging someone who crosses my path. Encouragement is such a little thing with huge implications. Never underestimate the power of a kind and encouraging word.

Move each day-I’m doing a great job in making sure I work out 3-4 times a week to train for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February. However, I believe it is so important to have some kind of physical activity every day. I’m going to try to incorporate strength training on the days I don’t run. I know that being active every day will only help me grow stronger but will make me a better runner to be able to go faster and farther.

Hopefully by incorporating these habits into my life, I will be able to pursue and achieve any goals that I set for this year.

What about you? What new habits do you want to begin this year?