When it comes to New Year's resolutions, I feel like they get the reputation of being very cliché, but I personally love the idea of setting new goals for the year. I'm a goal-oriented person, so I love the feeling of finally achieving something I've worked really hard for. Having new goals gives me an opportunity to grow and better myself, which I'm all about. However, I think it's so important to make sure the goals I do make are actually attainable.
Often times people set lofty goals, which is absolutely amazing, but then don't know where to start and end up getting overwhelmed, so they quit. Or, people will set numbered based goals, like hit X number of followers on Instagram or loose X pounds. It's great if you want to improve these things, but if people don't hit that exact number, they often feel like they failed even when they've made incredible progress! This is why I wanted to be more realistic with my goals this year and break them down so it's easier for me to achieve throughout the year.
Keep scrolling to find out what I'm hoping to accomplish this year, and my tips on how you can start making your goals attainable in 2021.
1. Reduce My Screen Time
I may be the only person who likes this, but I think it's so good that iPhones have the screen time option now. It made me realize how much unnecessary time I'm spending endlessly scrolling on social media. I go on social media the most in the morning and before bed, which are probably the worst times to do this. It can feel so draining, which is not how I want to start my day. Then on the other hand, it can make it harder for me to fall asleep after scrolling on my phone for a while.
To do this, I'm trying not to go on social media for at least the first 30 minutes I'm awake in the morning. At night, I set the downtime option on my phone to start at 10pm and last until 7am. That way when I go to check an app, I'm reminded not to. Trust me, it can be easy to just tap the "15 more minutes" button, but I'm going to try my hardest not to. Hopefully I'll get out of the habit of even wanting to check my phone at night.
2. Post Consistently on My YouTube Channel and Blog
I'll admit, over the last year or two my blog has been on the back burner a bit. While I've never had a big following, I've always enjoyed doing it and love having a space where I can be creative, share my style, and whatever I want about fashion and beauty.
When it comes to YouTube, I had always wanted to start my own channel after watching Bethany Mota and so many beauty gurus around that time. I was always too afraid of what people would think, but I finally started posting on my channel in 2019. I uploaded videos for a bit, but didn't for a while, and then recently got back into posting mostly regularly over the past few months. Personally, I'm more likely to watch a video over reading a blog post for certain topics, and video is so popular right now anyway. Plus, this is another way I can be creative that's a little more different from work.
To be more consistent, I'm aiming to post one blog or video a week. Ideally, I'd like to do one of each, but that can be a lot while working full-time. I also don't want to put too much pressure on myself because that takes the fun out of it, but I have a lot of video ideas now, so don't be surprised if you see slightly more videos over blog posts. Basically, I just want to improve both of these all around and see what happens!
3. Journal and Meditate in the Morning
So I have the Calm app that use basically every night, but I want to start using it in the morning too. I recently realized how much better I feel starting my day off with one of the guided meditations on the app and then writing down how I'm feeling and basically anything that comes to mind.
I feel so much more refreshed just by spending 20 minutes doing this every morning as opposed to scrolling on Instagram or TikTok. This will probably take some getting used to, but I'm looking forward to making this a daily habit!
4. Dance More
Ever since I stopped dancing after I graduated high school, I never really got back into dance for a long period of time. I did some classes in college, and then started going to classes at the Broadway Dance Center. I loved doing that, but studio closed and switched to online for the pandemic. I wasn't sure how to feel about an online dance class (mostly because I live in a small NYC apartment) but I did a few classes while I was home for Christmas and it was so much fun dancing again! I'm not quite sure how easy it'll be to do anything other than ballet in my apartment, but I'll see how it goes! I want to try to do at least one dance class or dance workout a week.
5. Save More Money
I get it, it's weird to talk about money. It often ends up being an uncomfortable conversation for anyone. If 2020 taught me anything, it's that you never know what can happen financially. I've been so lucky to have a job throughout the pandemic, but I figured it doesn't hurt to start saving more.
In the past, I've always saved for something specific, like moving to NYC, going on a trip, or going to a concert. This time I'm not saving for anything in particular. My goal is to save at least $50.00 a month. I know it's not a lot, but it's better than nothing! Maybe once it's safe to travel I can use it to go on a trip, or maybe not, who knows?
6. Do a Photoshoot for My Blog
Having high quality photos for your blog and Instagram is so important when trying to grow. The iPhone camera takes great quality photos and videos, but it's not always the same as having professional photos. Don't get me wrong, it's how I shoot my content 100% of the time and what I'll continue to do. However, I've seen so many bloggers work with lifestyle photographers in New York, I always thought this would be fun try!
Since I don't have a large following, I've never been able to justify doing this before. However, I'm kind of just like, why not? Life is short and I want to grow my social media, so I know I won't regret doing it. I'll admit, it's hard and a little intimidating to take photos of my outfits by myself outside. Plus, I always feel like I'm being annoying if I ask friends to take photos for me.
I want to do this as a a treat myself/reward type of thing. I'm aiming to do this in the summertime when the weather is nice!
What You Can Do to Achieve Your Goals
Looking for ways to achieve your own goals this year? Keep scrolling for my top tips on how you can do this.
1. Make Your Goals Attainable
You're probably thinking, well, this is obvious. However, I feel like this is why a lot of people end up quitting their goals after a short amount of time. I'm all for achieving anything you put your mind to and I truly believe that can happen, but it helps you're true to yourself.
We've all heard this New Year's resolution: Go to the gym and get healthier. Maybe we know a friend or family member who said that or maybe that was you one year. For this specific goal, a lot of times people will go from never stepping foot in a gym, to feeling like they need to go five days a week. Obviously, it'll be hard to keep up with such a drastic change. Instead, make it more attainable. Aim for going two or three days a week, then work up to going more often. Whether it's saving money or trying to buy coffee less, this mindset can be applied to any goal you work towards
2. Set a Realistic Amount
Have you ever heard someone who has a laundry list of goals they want to achieve? If you set 20 goals, this can become overwhelming, make you not want to do the goals, and make you feeling bad about yourself if you don't do every single one. Let's face it, who wants to change 20 things in their life anyway?
If you only have one or two goals, that's totally okay! Achieving one goal and feeling really proud of yourself is way better than giving up on a really long list of goals.
3. Create a Realistic End Date
Setting an end date or time frame for your goal can make it a lot easier to achieve. It's also important though to make sure you're realistic with yourself. For example, say you want to start a YouTube channel and gain 3,000 subscribers. If you give yourself one month to do that, you most likely won't achieve it in that short of time. Instead, give yourself a whole year. There's nothing wrong with that. You'll be able to have fun and enjoy it more, won't feel pressured to accomplish something so fast, and you'll still be conquering a big goal!
4. Breakdown Your Goals
So, you have a goal you want to achieve? That's great! It can be intimidating to know where to start, which is why I think it's best to breakdown your goals. Try breaking down your goals by figuring out what you need to do each month or week to achieve it. If you want to save $1,000 during the year, break it up by months or weeks so you know how to how much to set a side. This will make the goal seem way more doable. This seems pretty straight forward, but it actually isn't something I really thought to do until more recently over the past couple of years.
No matter what goal or goals you're hoping to accomplish in 2021, remember not to be hard on yourself. This should be something that feels rewarding and you're proud of, you shouldn't dread it.
