Forget new year’s resolutions

While this time of year is meant to be joyful, it’s often filled with high anxiety and stress.

You might be scrambling right now to figure out everything you want to accomplish in the new year, yet multiple studies show that by February, 80% of resolutions will be abandoned.

Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves during this time of year? There’s definitely social pressures. There’s the Gregorian calendar marking January 1st as the start of a new year. The Lunar new year follows a few weeks later. January is named after Janus, the Roman god of new beginnings. It’s been instilled in us to believe that this is a significant time of change.

What if you broke away from all of the hype of new things and new beginnings and instead made time to reflect on the old and learn from the past? Ask yourself:

• What did I accomplish over the past 12 months?

• What were some highlights?

• What were some low points?

• What would I have done differently?

And rather than setting resolutions for the next year right now, could you shift to a more constant goal-setting mindset that focuses on a shorter time frame and readjusts every few months? Try something like this:

• 1) Find themes that inspire you - ex: growth

• 2) Identify focus areas for each theme - ex: grow my Mandarin

• 3) Set action items for each focus area - ex: listen to ChinesePod after dropping kids off at school on Tues, Weds, Thurs

Much less scary and way more attainable than “learn Mandarin in 2022.” Great achievements do not happen overnight or by impulse, but rather with a series of smaller action items coming together.

What are your goals for the next few months?