I’ve never been the biggest fan of New Year resolutions. I kind of see them as a larger scale version of ‘I’ll start on Monday’, and I’ve always been a solid believer in starting now, not putting something off until it’s convenient. That said, for 2019 I have decided to set myself some goals. These are things I want to achieve. They may not be achievable in a year, and they may not all start on January 1st, but these are the next things on my I want to achieve in my life.
How to make New Year resolutions that you’ll keep
I think if you are thinking about making your own resolutions, it’s about creating realistic goals, but also goals that are flexible. I don’t say that so that they can easily be gotten out of, but that we often make such strict, far-reaching goals and unfortunately, as we all know, life isn’t that strict, it demands that we change and adapt to unforeseen circumstances. So if you add a bit of flexibility to your goals, so can adapt them to your life and they are more likely to be achieved. For example, if your goal is weight loss, don’t set a goal of ‘X amount of weight lost in X amount of time’, say ‘in the next year I want to begin my journey to a healthier and happier me’. Then say to yourself that it can be measured in the following ways; I feel fitter, I can walk/run further and I am stronger. I feel happier. I look healthier. And finally, the weight on the scale is going down. All of these measures are valid and show success, you may achieve them all, you may not. But staying the same weight but being able to walk 10km is still a success. don’t narrow your window for succeeding by setting narrow goals.
My New Year Resolutions
Making saving a priority
I’ve always been a pretty good budgeter. When I need to save, I’ve always been able to knuckle down and do it, whether it was to buy something or save for a holiday. But 2019 is going to mark the start of probably the most ambitious savings project we ever have; saving for a house. It’s not a small feat to achieve, but I’m at the stage in my life where I really want a space to call my own. so the budgets have been worked on, still allowing space for fun, and my spending limits are set. I’ve forcing myself to have a very spartan start to the year in order to kick-start the fund, then I plan on spending, or not as the case may be, the rest of the year focusing on putting money away as the priority. So long-haul holiday dreams will be on hold for now.
Meditating everyday
You all know I’m a big fan of meditation, and I’ve also discussed how it can be difficult to keep up. My practice works in ebbs and flows, but for 2019 I aim to solidify it into my everyday. I try to aim for 20 minutes a day, either in one block, or two sessions of 10 minutes, but I often get distracted or overloaded and I don’t manage it. so next year, my goal is to simply do it every day. No time limits or expectations. It could be 2 minutes, it could be twenty, but my focus is to make it second nature to think about and incorporate to help me find balance.
Fitness First
I’m on a lifelong fitness journey. but 2018 was definitely a career-first, life-first year. My fitness took a back seat and while I still trained 4-6 times a week, it wasn’t a focus. If I had to eat out, I did. I didn’t sacrifice for training and that’s OK as that’s’ what I needed to do during a job change and difficult times personally. Next year I’d like to give it back a bit focus now things have settled and I have the time. My aim is to get back to prepping my work lunches and setting specific monthly exercise goals, by compartmentalising it I think it’s more achievable than an epic 6-month or yearly goal.
Spend more time in the kitchen
This resolution is thanks to Samin Nosrat. Now, if you don’t know who Samin is, you need to introduce yourself, stat. Samin is an Iranian-American chef and food writer and author of the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, a not-so-ordinary cookbook that focuses on mastering the core elements of cooking rather than simply offering recipes to follow. This book isn’t about helping you make a one-off dish, it’s about turning you into a chef. For those of you that aren’t big readers, you are in luck as the folk of Netflix have turned the book into a truly brilliant four-part documentary, fronted by Samin herself. She’s funny and endearing and her passion for food is so infectious I watched all four in one sitting. It inspired me to get back to the kitchen.
I’ve always loved cooking, having been taught to cook and bake by my mum and nan respectively. But over the years, true cooking has been replaced by survival eating. I cook for nutritional value, making sure I have protein, carbs, fat etc. for training, with taste and experience coming second, if at all. After watching the series I followed Samin’s advice, seasoning and tasting as I go, adding new ingredients and experimenting with staple dishes I batch cook, and they turned out better than they ever have before. Here’s to a tasty 2019!
What are your New Year resolutions? Do you keep them? Do you think they are rubbish? Let me know below!
Welcome!