A New Kind of Resolution -- How to Make a New Years Resolution (or Any Time Resolution) & Goals That Stick

It's that time of year again. Resolution time. When we are suddenly motivated to make some positive changes in our lives. To improve ourselves in one way or another (or several). We buy those organizing bins, sign up for that gym membership, and resolve to pray for no less than an hour a day. "We can do this," is our chant. Before March comes, however, life has set in, and our organizing plans have been forgotten. Our gym membership goes unused (even though we continue to pay the monthly fee, just in case we should decide to feel motivated). Our prayer life, in our failure to pray for an entire hour every day, has been completely abandoned.

There has got to be a better way.

There is a better way, actually.

How to Make a New Years Resolution (or Any Time Resolution) That Sticks:

1. Start small. The key to success is to set yourself up for success. You can do this by starting small. Most resolutions are all or none. They are too extreme, too fast, and, once we realize we can't live up to our own unrealistic expectations, we abandon the plan altogether. Is your plan to lose weight? Start small. Maybe, starting in January, you can start exercising for 10 minutes 3 times a week and drink 16 oz. of water a day. That is setting yourself up for success. Or, say you currently eat chips 7 days a week. Starting in January, you can limit yourself to eating chips to 5 days a week. These are small lifestyle changes that set you up for success.
2. Gradually add to your goal, month by month. By the time January is finished, you should have established a fairly good routine of exercising for 10 minutes 3 times a week and drinking 16 oz. of water a day (or whatever your small goal was). In February you can increase your goal a bit. For example, bump up your exercise to 15 minutes 3 times a week and 24 oz. of water a day, along with at least one fruit or vegetable a day. Again, you want to set yourself up for success, so for each month, set your goals in attainable increments. (Download my Monthly Breakdown Worksheet to help you with this step.)
3. Bring your new habits alongside old ones. You have habits and routines already established into your day. Whenever possible, try to bring your new habits alongside your old ones to integrate them more naturally. For example, when I eat pizza, I crave pop. There is something about eating pizza delivery that makes me want to have a soda. So I started buying carbonated flavored water (with sucralose, not aspartame as a sweetener). Now when I eat pizza, I drink one of these instead of a pop, and my craving is satisfied. I am still drinking a flavored carbonated beverage, so switching out this habit was seamless. Another example: When I wake up in the morning, I like to hang out in my bed for a while. I do my Jesus Calling devotional, check my e-mail, etc. So, as part of my 2014 resolutions, I kept this tendency as part of my routine. I give myself time to lay in my bed. This will be the easiest place to incorporate my prayer and Bible goals, because it will become part of a habit I have already established.
4. Make your general goals concrete. General goals are difficult to achieve because they do not have a built-in plan. "Organize my house" is vague and much less likely to succeed than "Spend 10 minutes 4 times a week decluttering/organizing." For every general goal you have, turn it into a concrete plan. (My Goal-Setting Worksheet can you help you with this step.)
5. Plan for busy months. If there are times of the year that you know are busier than others, you should reflect that in your monthly goal planning. For example, I work full-time in the summer, and full-time at this job sometimes means 100+ hours a week. Because of this, my goals for June and July are tiny. I have coined these "grace months." Again, I want to set myself up for success. In August I will be a stay-at-home mom again. So my August goals will revert back to what they were in May. I have not added or increased any goals for that month because I want to re-establish my routine first. 
6. Track your progress. I have downloadable Weekly Progress Charts that can help you track your progress. This step is important because it provides both a visual reminder and helps you track your success. Success motivates us to continue on. 
7. Consider having an accountability partner. You may consider asking a friend if they are willing to discuss your progress and keep you accountable. If your accountability partner is also doing a chart, even better. A friend and I will both be doing these charts, and we have agreed to be accountable to each other. Knowing that someone is going to ask you how you're doing can be good motivation to stay on track. 
8. Give yourself grace. These resolutions are not "all or none" like typical resolutions are. So remember to give yourself grace. One of my goals is to start waking up earlier. Today, I slept in, so technically, according to traditional resolution thinking, I have already failed. Should I abandon my plan to create a habit of getting up earlier? Of course not. Remember that the direction you are going, and the progress you are making, however small, is more important than completing your chart to perfection. We are imperfect beings. Perfection is not possible. But, by setting ourselves up for success, we can achieve our goals and make positive changes in our life. (With it being the day after New Years Eve, I was never planning on getting up early today, but it still works nicely as an example.)

You can access all the free printable goal-setting worksheets and progress charts in my next post.

What has been your experience with New Years resolutions? 

Back from My Summer Job...

My summer job is over. Whew! It is a lot of hours, but it allows me to stay home for most of the year, which is pretty awesome. I am SO thankful for that.

Anyway, this has been the reason for my absence the past few weeks. I have a lot of housework to catch up on, but there are officially THREE rooms in the house that are clean now. Woohoo! I am also reasonably caught up on the laundry, which is nice.

The twins just had their birthday yesterday and are now 7 years old. Hard to believe in some ways. I remember when they were tiny, tiny 5 lb. babies. It does NOT seem like it's been 7 years... That being said, I have loved every stage they have been in. Each stage has its own riches. I am so thankful to be a mom.

I will be writing real posts again soon, including part 2 of How to Turn a Blog Post Title Into a Photo for Pinterest.

Thanks for sticking around during my absence, and stay tuned for upcoming posts, how-to's, and homeschool supplements and printables. :)

URGENT! Please Sign HSLDA's Petition to Help Protect Homeschool Rights!

Help! As hard to believe as it is, homeschool rights in this country are currently in jeopardy.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the case surrounding the Romeike family, you can read more about it here, here, and here. This case has the potential to affect the homeschool rights of every American, which is pretty scary.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sign HSLDA's (Home School Legal Defense Association) petition today: http://www.hslda.org/legal/cases/romeike/petition.asp

45,000 more signatures are needed by April 18. 


I was informed earlier today that teens 13 and up can sign it as well, so if you homeschool teenagers, they can also take action!

Thank you so much in advance!!

*Edited 4/6/2013: Sorry, the date the signatures are needed by is April 18, not March 19 like I originally posted. Oops! Can you tell it was a late night?*

How to Be an Informed Voter - Links to Make the Democratic Process Easier

{Note: edited to add 11/03/2012}

Sometimes voting can be confusing and frustrating. There is nothing like confidently walking into your polling station and marking your choice of candidates, only to turn the page and find out that you are not in the district you thought and aren't really sure which representative you should vote for now. Turn the page again, and you are confronted with a list of 8-12 judges that you've never heard of. Followed by "Proposition A" that you had no clue about, written in a language that is about as clear as mud. Perfect. Now what? You make your choices as best you can and slip it in the ballot box. As you put on your "I voted" sticker, you can't help but wonder if there is a better way.

This is why I'm writing this post. To make being an informed voter easier. Voting is important. Especially informed voting. I have put together a list of links and resources so you can be just that: informed, and not feel like you have to guess the truth based on each candidate's affiliated political party or ads you've seen on tv.

1. Find out exactly what (and who) is on the ballot and what districts you are in. 

Any state: http://vote-usa.org/ Enter your address and it will show you a sample ballot, along with links for each candidate so you can compare. It will also tell you what districts you will be voting for, which is extremely helpful. (Note: The sample ballot does not show which judges will be on the ballot, but it does show federal and state candidates and other measures you will be voting on. Also, using the sites "Compare Candidates" feature is not always helpful, because the site does not have any information on many of the candidates. The site does at least let you know the candidates and measures on the ballot so you know who to research.)

Missouri specifically: http://jcebmo.org/on-the-ballot. The sample ballot shows all districts, not just your own, but this includes judges. I printed this off and, using the district information I got from http://vote-usa.org/, I crossed off the districts that were not going to be on my ballot. When you print this off, you only need to print off the pages that include the sample ballot. For this year's election, that includes pages 1-11. Pages 12-19 contain information on voting locations only and do not include ballot information. As you do your research, you can make notes on these pages on where the candidates stand on the issues most important to you.

Other states/territories: If you live in another state and would like to look up the ballot, including judges or anything else that may not be included in vote-usa.org, do an internet search for "sample ballot alabama" or "what is on the ballot in alabama" (or whatever state you're in) and you should be able to find it. If you get too many results, you may need to narrow your search by including "Nov 6, 2012."


2. Research where each candidate stands on the issues most important to you. For me, the most important issues are protecting and upholding life in all it's forms, including unborn life. There are several ways that you can look up where candidates stand on life and other issues important to the family.

National Right to Life You can see all the National Right to Life endorsed candidates for each state here

Missouri Right to Life You can see all the candidates endorsed by Missouri Right to Life here. (Endorsed candidates are in caps. Read the key to find out what other symbols mean.) This is a perfect example of why you cannot assume where candidates stand based on political affiliation. For Missouri Lieutenant Governor, for example, neither the democrat nor the republican candidates are endorsed, but Cynthia Davis is (running on Constitution platform). Also, in District 31, Shelia Solon, a republican, is not endorsed by MO right to life, while her opponent, Dale Walkup (a democrat), is. 

Citizen Link Voter is a website by Focus on the Family designed to help voters know where candidates stand on life and other family issues.  This site is a fairly recent development, and for my state (Missouri), it says "No candidate information has been provided." Hopefully this site will be more helpful in the future.
http://www.citizenlinkvoter.com/

{Added 11/03/12} AFA Action {AFA = American Family Association}. Use AFA Action's voter guide to see their ratings for different candidates. Each candidate is graded based on how confident the AFA panel is that he or she will vote conservatively if elected. You can also click "Show Details" to see how different organizations within the panel individually rated each candidate. Very helpful resource.

{Added 11/03/12} Christian Coalition of America The CC surveys candidates on important issues and examines their records. The voter guide includes various issues and indicates whether each candidate supports or opposes each position. {Heads up: You have to sign up for the site before you can get your voter guide.}


3. Research the Amendments and Other Measures Also on the Ballot. Now that you know what and who is going to be on your ballot and where the candidates stand on issues important to you, research the amendments and other measures (i.e. Propositions, etc.) so you can make an informed vote. I obviously do not have links for every measure for every state, so the best way is to do an internet search on each one and do your own research. Since you are already know what the measures are from step 1, this shouldn't be difficult.

4. Make a list of your choices to take with you when you vote. You can simply print off the sample ballot and circle the candidates you choose or write them down on your own. This ensures that you do not forget all the work you've done!

With regards to judges: Unfortunately, I have not found a way to effectively research judges and where they stand on important issues. Legally, judges are supposed to be impartial, and their beliefs are not supposed to inform their judgments. They are there to interpret the laws that already exist, not conform the laws to their belief systems. Unfortunately, we all know that sadly this is not the case. Because they are said to be impartial, researching their beliefs and affiliations is difficult.

Note regarding comments: If you have more useful links or if these links helped, please leave me a comment and let me know! However, the comments are not to be used as a place to make a case for anti-life or anti-family positions. I realize that step 2 takes a very strong pro-life stance, which is something I have no intention of apologizing for. Any disrespectful or otherwise unhelpful comments will be deleted. Thanks for your cooperation. :)

{Disclaimer: This blog post does NOT contain any affiliate or paid links.}