I know you may be thinking this is painfully unrelated, but bear with me. Gratitude has an amazing ability to bring even more gratitude and positivity to nearly any situation. There will undoubtedly be times this year when your goal feels out of reach and the day is out of your control. These are the moments in particular that if you can shift your mindset and remain positive, you can keep pushing forward with your resolutions and what matters most. Gratitude journals are an incredibly effective way to do this. Especially at the end of a bad day, writing down 5 things that you are grateful for can truly shift your mindset and bring about more positive change. By starting the simple daily practice of noticing the good and being grateful for it, you'll begin to notice more and more things to be grateful for. Before long, searching for gratitude-worthy situations will no longer be a struggle and you'll have a fresh, more upbeat mindset that has the optimism and ambition to tackle your resolutions. Make this a daily practice and watch the bad days become less frequent and severe. Start by writing down 3 things each day and see how you feel overall after one week.
“A goal properly set is halfway reached.”
~ Zig Ziglar
Keep A Gratitude Journal
Don't Negotiate
When sheer will and stubbornness are failing and the cookie on your best friend's counter looks too good, don't negotiate. Not because it becomes a downward slippery slope or for fear that you'll completely fall off the wagon, but because you will be too steadfast in your goal that it is not up for discussion. Decide once your goal is made that you will not negotiate under any circumstances. This may seem a lot easier than said than done, but is crucial in your progress. By writing your daily goals and visualizing them as completed, it will be easier to envision yourself overcoming the temptation of slacking off on your resolutions. One practice helps the other and your motivation will only build on itself.
This year, set a legal pad or beautiful notebook next to your coffee maker to start your day off right. Most of us will go through an entire year and only write our resolutions down once or twice while the extremely successful write their goals every single day. That's right. Every. Single. Day. By writing your resolutions down as if they have already happened, you are better able to visualize completing them. Start each day off on the right foot and you'll never go a day without thinking about your goal again. The process of physically writing them down helps your brain process your goal differently and remembers them throughout the day better. By writing them down first thing in the morning, you'll be reminded of your goal all day and more likely take steps to achieve it.
Write Your Goals Each Morning
51