New Year's Resolution Planning
Essential tips for building a New Year's resolution that sticks for the next 12 months. Find inspiration to achieve your goals with valuable resources to help you make the best of the year ahead.
We share with you a proven method to evaluate your past year and set realistic goals for the year ahead. We aim to help you create a resolution to keep for the next 12 months and build healthy habits. It is essential to reflect on what has occurred the previous year to learn how to move forward. Also, identifying the necessary changes in your life will help achieve maximum happiness with the least effort.
Planning Is Key
Approach the task of writing your New Year's resolution strategically and block an entire hour without any distractions for this activity. Start by looking back at the past year, month by month, and write down each month's highs and lows. Aim to identify at least one high and low moment for each month by asking what went well and what went wrong.
Once you have all written it down, it is time for reflection and learning. First, start by analysing your highs and try to identify some patterns. The objective is to determine what made you happy and fulfilled and how you can create more of these moments in the year ahead.
Further, create a strategy to avoid the negative emotions or roadblocks you had in the previous year. For example, if one of your recurrent lows was about your weight, make sure you incorporate targets about healthy nutrition and exercise in the new year. These can be small wins, such as having home-cooked lunch a few times per week or exercising for 30 minutes every other day. Start with small, achievable targets that can be hit weekly.
Set your goals for the year ahead and write them down in your planner so you can remind yourself of your targets every day. Focus on writing down actions that will have the maximum impact to overbalance the negative experiences you encountered in the previous year. Below are some aspects you might want to focus on in the year ahead and include in your resolution.
Maintain a Basic Skincare Routine
If your goal is to have better looking and healthier skin, focus on establishing a basic routine that suits your skin type and needs. Your skin needs to be cleansed daily, morning and evening, to remove dirt, debris, free radicals, pollution.
Use a lotion-based cleanser to avoid stripping your skin from the natural oils while gently cleansing your face. Moisturise after your cleansing with natural formulated creams and use a special one for the night to rejuvenate your skin and make it glow.
If you suffer from blemishes, choose a moisturiser with tea tree such as the Green Angel's Rescue Cream. Tea tree essential oil is renowned as a natural antiseptic and enriched with Vitamin E may help improve fine lines and wrinkles by providing an antioxidant boost that supports the healthy growth of new skin cells.
To help your skin glow apply a scrub and face mask once a week. Green Angel's Apricot Face Scrub is the perfect product to exfoliate your skin gently. If you suffer from dry skin, add to your basic regime a mask with avocado to soothe and hydrate the skin for a plumping effect.
Eating Healthier
If you have indulged your sweet tooth during the holidays' season, it is time to focus on some healthy and nutritional meals to bring back your glow and feel more energetic. Unfortunately, winter is a tough time to get all the vitamins required, and most of the time, we crave high caloric food.
If you plan on having a big lunch during the day, then balance it out with a smoothie in the morning. I would also opt for a light dinner such as a veggie soup to warm up and limit the amount of calories. If you find yourself lacking inspiration for your morning breakfast, check out our recipes from the Monday Smoothie mini-series.
Replace your chocolate or other unhealthy snacks with fresh fruits and vegetables. Look for recipes for healthy snacks such as omelette muffins, energy balls, hearty pancakes, or home-made crisps. These are easy to prepare and much better for your body.
Create a Workout Timetable
Are you ready to feel like your best self but not sure where to start? Then, it is time to focus on working out this year. Whether you love training outdoors or at home, your fitness journey can be an exciting goal for the year ahead.
Healthy living starts with daily exercise. Print a 30-day calendar with different goals and exercise-related milestones to keep yourself motivated at the beginning of each month.
If you haven't tried running until now, we have an entire mini-series about how to get the basics for a running routine, from getting motivated to warm-up exercises. Start with a mix of running and walking to avoid injuries and build up towards your running goal throughout the year.
Read More
If you want to read more this year, try combining reading books and listening to audiobooks. Choose a couple of books you would be interested in reading, and don't worry about simultaneously reading multiple books.
If you are reading multiple books simultaneously, you can choose your entertainment based on your mood: some days, you will crave some motivation and inspiration in the mornings, and you will love falling asleep over a good novel. Other times you might want to read something to learn and develop a skill, or other times you will just want a good biography and find out some gossip about someone's extravagant life.
We have reviewed some lovely books on fashion, design, and beauty, such as Pippa Paton's "Twenty First Century Cotswold" volume one and Alexandra Shulman's "Clothes and Other Things That Matter".
Once you have identified 3-5 actionable goals, write them down in your planner or notebook. Face your resolution every day when you open your agenda. It will make you more accountable, and your rate of success is higher! Use #DHNYResolution to share your progress this year!
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