10 Best New Year Resolution Ideas For 2021
It’s that time of the year for making your new year’s resolution and when we all start indulging in retrospections of the previous year. Some are re-evaluating the choices that they made in their lives and planning for a brighter feature. A considerable number of us will be probing the depths of our minds for the best ideas for New Year resolutions in 2021.
So how to pick what your resolution is going to be?
I would suggest you sit down with a free mind and note down a few of your goals for this year. Having a goal is such a powerful tool as it gives us something to aim for. The thing is, it has to be something measurable. If you let your goal be too ‘flimsy’ you’ll never stick to it. It has to be something black and white, something that you can clearly say that you either did it or didn’t.
For example: “I want to lose weight” – this is a great goal but not set correctly. What you should be saying is, “I want to lose 10kg by September.” Now, this is a clear and measurable goal. You will be able to track your progress towards the end goal with both a measure and timeframe.
Some ideas to get you started
Sometimes you need a little bit of inspiration to help you with your planning and you won’t be critiqued for looking through Google for ideas on what you could be working on in 2021.
Below I’ll walk you through some of the top New Year resolution ideas for 2021.
Get In Shape
According to studies, losing weight is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions in America and the UK.
If you combine it with resolutions like “Stay Fit & Healthy” & “Exercise More,” then 1/3rd of the world’s population usually commits to this new years resolution. That says something thunderous to me; people know that they live unhealthy lives but are looking for ways to make a change. It makes you think why then that we find this particular goal so hard – especially when you cross the 30+ age bracket (I know from personal experience!)
Beginning with the journey isn’t too hard, there’s usually plenty of motivation after binging on all the rich food from the holiday season – generally because we can no longer fit into those favourite trousers (pants for my US readers). The main problem lies with sticking to it.
You need to create a decent program for yourself which will progress over the course of months and steadily give you results rather than going too crazy at the beginning and burning yourself out in a matter of weeks. Don’t be fooled by ‘fad’ diets either; these are usually just money-making activities and don’t lead to much weight loss. Look at that recent investigation by the BBC that showed Instagram Influencers promoting diet products that they know nothing about and containing cyanide!
Find something that is going to work in harmony with your life and home and that you can easily sustain. There’s no point paying for pre-packed meals for one month when you know that they are too expensive for you to afford in month’s two and three. So think about it and plan it.
If you need an extra layer of motivation once you’ve picked your plan, why not use a service like my accountability coaching, that weekly check-in to discuss barriers and track your fitness goals.
Promise to Forgive Yourself
You might have experienced setbacks in your life up until now, we all do, it’s part of learning and growing up.
The chances are that you might not have achieved all the things that you planned to during 2020. Don’t waste energy dwelling on them, it’s done, and you can’t change it.
Instead, you should pick yourself up, dust off and start riding the horse again – or in other words, set yourself a new shiny new years resolution and try a bit harder this year.
It’s essential that you also teach yourself to say “I forgive you”. If you can’t forgive yourself for your transgressions then why should anyone else? Say it out loud to yourself each and every day in the mirror.
Once you start doing that, you won’t be able to believe the positive vibes you are getting in your life. Go on, practice it now!
Eat Healthier – Maybe Try Veganism
Well, this one is the extension of “Get In Shape” resolution and I know I said not to get on the ‘fad train’, but I do believe that veganism isn’t a fad, it’s more a way of life.
We are all surrounded by cheap junk food everywhere around us; it’s perfectly marketed to play on our impulse purchase mindset and made in a way to encourage us to come back to it time and time again.
That’s the reason sticking to a healthy diet can be quite a tricky task but trying veganism could help tick that box while also helping to minimise your impact on climate change.
Whatever your reason for becoming a vegan is, it can’t be denied that it’s not a ‘trend’ anymore, it’s a full-blown movement.
I committed in 2019 that although I didn’t want to become a fulltime Vegan, I wanted to eat less meat and animal products and would make a conscious effort to seek out and try the Vegan options available when I went out. I can proudly say that after a bit of a rocky start with testing various options that I now only eat meat about twice a week. This year I intend for that to be just once. Why? Because I found some alternatives to meat that I enjoy more so why wouldn’t I?
It’s time that you made a new years resolution to start eating healthier but start with small goals like I did. Maybe you want to limit yourself to chocolate just once a week. You could begin committing to taking lunch to work each day rather than the temptation of the supermarket at lunchtime. You may even want to introduce a meal replacement like Huel (which I’m not affiliated with but highly recommend as it tastes fantastic) thereby avoiding junk food and eliminating it from your life.
The importance here is to learn to control your emotional eating but without restricting yourself too much at the beginning. Build yourself up, make sensible choices that don’t impact your family life and you will be more likely to stick with it.
Improve Mental & Concentration Skills
In one of my previous blog posts, we learned how important “Single-Tasking” really is.
One of the best ways to practice single-tasking is by merely improving your mental and concentration skills. That is a bold statement and is easier said than done. Trying to improve your mental focus is something that takes time and practice but importantly, like with dieting, you have to find something that is going to work for you.
In today’s world, we can use anything, ranging from a smartphone application to an ancient meditation technique to improve our concentration and mental power. Many of my clients practice the miracle hour which includes meditation and mantras to get them focused for the day; other’s prefer daily mindfulness.
Do some research and find a technique that is going work for you and something that you can introduce easily into your daily routine.
Become More Polite
We live in a civilised society (mostly), and people expect us to be polite – we certainly expect others to be polite to us.
This is one of my favourite new year resolutions because many people have forgotten the simplicity and joy it brings to be polite to people.
The key to mastering this one is to not over-react when someone doesn’t return the gesture of politeness.
Don’t get me wrong; I have stumbled across many people over time that have not bothered to thank me or even acknowledge that I’ve held the door for them or let them go first in a queue. Now I’m not saying I’m perfect at this because catch me in the wrong frame of mind and you will very quickly be on the receiving end of a reminder to be polite and say ‘thank you’.
However, my ongoing goal is not to let these things bother me and maybe it could be yours too.
I genuinely believe that it’s one of the techniques that you need to master to thrive in this world.
Are You Happy?
I can go on and on about the stories of people who earn millions of dollars and are in decent shape and have stress under control but aren’t exactly happy.
There’s only one secret for staying happy at all times.
My mantra for staying happy is, “Be Grateful for what you have and learn from your failures.”
It would help if you didn’t let problems bring you down. I believe that barriers are there to test our will and desire to overcome them. When faced with a barrier, what do you do? Do you climb over it, smash through it, find a way around it or give up?
Me? I like to find a way around barriers. There’s always another way; you just have to find it.
Let me share a quick story:
Over the holidays I treated my family to a dishwasher, I know a boring present but one very much needed to reduce conflict and stress in my household. I had planned a single day to fit and install it. A long story short… It took three days. Every conceivable barrier was put up in front of me from electrical issues, plumbing diversions and even bursting hoses. My fiancé was going insane with the problems that were being presented, I however, was not. Why? Because I knew that I would figure out a way around all the issues and that I would be able to get the damm thing installed. It was just going to take more time than I planned. The outcome? A feeling of overwhelming satisfaction when it was finally installed and running it’s first cycle.
So set yourself a new years resolution to teach yourself to take a step back when facing barriers, look at the problem from a different angle and remind yourself that you can do it, but maybe not the way you first intended.
Say No To Cigarettes
Most of us recognise smoking as a bad habit and severely impacts your health but many smokers aren’t quite able to quit.
There are two components to why it’s hard to quit smoking, even if you do make it your new year’s resolution:
1) The chemical addiction to nicotine
2) The habit
As an ex-smoker, I know this problem very well and struggled with it twice in my life. I’m proud to say that I kicked the habit three years ago and haven’t looked back.
How did I do it?
I used vaping as a replacement, which did take some time to get used to, but I slowly introduced it in place of cigarettes. I also stuck to my routine such as going outside to smoke; I still did that even though I was vaping. Eventually, as it got too cold or wet to go outside, I decided against it therefore slowly over time breaking my habit.
If you haven’t been able to quit up until now, there’s no better time to start making your plan.
Not only will it endanger your health, but it usually burns a massive hole in your wallet.
I’ve seen many people take up this resolution and encourage themselves with various means such as saving up the money they would have spent on cigarettes to focusing on running marathons. Decide on your plan of action and make sure your outcome is measurable!
Single-Tasking
In one of my past blog posts, I talked about how effective single-tasking can be to get things done.
Multitasking can sometimes make it harder for you to get everything done as you end up spreading your energy too thinly.
Instead, when you start focusing on a single task at a time, you will finally see yourself being happy. Plus, you will eventually observe the things falling in place.
Focus on just one single activity at a time and limit distraction.
Your life will get a whole lot easier.
Spend Time With People That Matter
Don’t waste your precious time on people who are toxic, insincere and duplicitous. If there are people in your ‘circle’ that don’t add value to your life, then why are you sustaining those relationships?
Instead, spend time with those who love you and appreciate you for being you.
I encountered this a lot when I went from my 9-5 life to self-employment years ago. Several people whom I held dear couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that I was running a business single-handedly and couldn’t just drop everything for a night out or an importune visit.
If you are running your own business or have a side-hustle that’s blossoming, you may encounter this as well. Do yourself a favour and limit your interactions with those people. Don’t be made to feel bad for not giving them time when they want it. If they are real friends, they will understand and want to help, not hinder.
I won’t lie, I ‘lost’ many people when I first went full-time self-employed, I was sad at the time, but now I know that those people would have only held me back. Those that remained in my circle understand the time pressures and hard work I do but importantly why I do it.
Permit yourself this year to pursue your dreams and not pander to other people’s demands on your time.
Stop Procrastinating
Stopping the dreaded procrastination is easier said than done but it’s the biggest roadblock on the way to success.
If you are a natural procrastinator, you will find it tough getting out of the habit. The best way is to get some external influence like a coach to help you bust through the barriers you’re placing in front of yourself. This can be applied to pretty much anything.
Think back to when you were at school, you didn’t have much time to procrastinate because everything had a deadline that you had to meet. As an adult, a lot of the time you set your own deadlines so it’s too easy for you to move the date back if you want to procrastinate on it a bit more.
Getting an accountability coach helps you stick to the deadline because you know that you are going to have to explain to someone else why you didn’t do it. It’s like having to tell the teacher that you didn’t do your homework.
Conclusion
Want to know what my New Year’s resolution is?
Being me, I have many, but here are a few:
Reduce my body fat to 18% (winter hasn’t been kind to me)
Attend 48 pilates classes this year (to help with a back and core strength issue)
To double my business turn-over (it’s a bit more specific than that but you get the idea)
To start hosting live-streams over on Twitch (something I’ve been preparing for and now need to take the leap)
I mean, of course, there’s always the overarching “be the best personal business and accountability coach in the world”.
People struggle quite a lot with sticking to their new year’s resolutions and that’s where I love to help.
In terms of personal life, I believe that each one of us deserves to be happy.
That’s the reason I want people to become real achievers in their personal lives when it comes to being accountable for their actions and help increase their motivation and productivity.
That’s my best New Year’s Resolution right there.
What’s yours?