Do you ever make new year’s resolutions, but find them hard to follow though on? If you do then you’re in very good company.  Here are 4 tips to help.

A Routine or a Word (or both)

Some of us are looking to start a new routine that will make us healthier or wealthier. (Or maybe more organized.) Others like to choose a single word to focus all their energy on. Two of my colleagues, Tom Martin and fellow organizer Sarah Soboleski, always go with the latter. Last year I chose both. My new routine was to get up earlier, at 5am. My word was “publish.” After working on a book for five years, I was determined that 2019 was the year to publish. And on November 18, I finally did!  I think it’s important to choose one word to fully focus your energies.

Plan ahead

New routines take some getting used to, so plan ahead. It may not be realistic to think that you will suddenly start a successful routine cold on New Year’s day. In December 2018, I did some reading on the benefits of waking up early. I knew the first think I was going to do when I hit the alarm at 5am in 2019.  It’s the same with my routine for 2020. My word of the year is “health” and I have routines to go with it. I met with a really great health coach, Jenny Hayes, at the beginning of this month. Jenny listened to my health priorities and gave me a routine to start with.

Limited and Specific

The more limited and specific a resolution is, the more likely it is to happen. For example, I chose to specifically focus on four things: 1. more energy, 2. happier gut, 3. lower cholesterol, 4. toned belly! Jenny started me off with a recipe for a “Blueberry Bliss Gut Healing Smoothie.” That’s my first routine and I have already been practicing it. I’ll hit the ground running with my resolution on New Year’s day.

Create a plan for circulation

The title of my book is The Circulation Solution. In it, I say that circulation is necessary to keep everything organized. That includes new year’s resolutions. The Circulation Solution is a plan for movement in a series of manageable, reliable stages. New routines often require new space. That was certainly true for my Gut Healing Smoothie! Creating that space was the first step in creating a manageable, reliable stages.

In the picture above you can see all the large containers the smoothie requires.  We did not have room in our kitchen for them. So, as I recommend in the book, you have to “prioritize before you organize.” Under the cabinet, we had a large stewpot and roasting pan. We only use them once a year (if that). I gave them a stockroom location in our basement. This opened up the space I needed for my ingredients. 

No room for my new smoothie making routine.
I Clear it all out and rethink priorities.
I set-up a drawer for the less used kitchen tools and a surface to slide smoothie bin #1 back under the shelf.
Smoothie bin #2 fits like a glove and so does everything else.

Another principle I talk about in the book is frequency merits facility. Given that I am resolved to make my health routine a daily priority, it should be super easy. I have just these two containers to grab and they are very accessible. Also I keep the recipe handy and laminated for protection. You can clearly see it through the front of the box. Jenny is super organized and gets the frequency merits facility principle. She actually created a video that shows her making this smoothie and cleaning up in just 3 minutes. Talk about manageable reliable stages! That’s how you turn resolution into reality.

If you have made a new years resolution, I’d love to hear about it. If you have worked out all the steps, better yet! Of course, if you’d like help organizing your New Year’s resolution or anything else, we’d love to help. 

Call me for a free consultation at 203.253.8414.