Instead of trying to keep all your resolutions this year. Learn how putting your focus on one thing can help you combat stress and accomplish more than you realize.
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New Year’s Resolutions Can Be Hard To Keep
New Year resolutions can be hard to keep. I know this first hand. Last December 31st I wrote down all my resolutions for the upcoming year. A few months ago, I revisited this list and saw that I was far from attaining all my goals. Initially, I got really upset. Then I remembered that getting upset would not make things better so I started to reshift my focus.
Fortunately, I quickly remembered that focusing on the negative would only make things worse and leave me feeling more depressed.
Instead, when I feel down I try to stop myself and re-shift my focus on all the positives in my life.
How I Learned to Focus On One Thing
I also remembered advice in a book I read. It was The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan.
Reading this book completely opened my eyes. I viewed my productivity in a whole new light. It taught me that multitasking just doesn’t work. Instead of creating a list of goals, you need to create a “Should Do” list consisting of tasks that are of absolute importance and need to be done first. Doing it this way you tackle the things you can get done and then have some fun.
Looking back, my biggest flaw wanting to to accomplish too many different things. I know now that it is more important to focus on ONE main goal.
Learning How to Get More Done With Micro Habits
A podcast episode also inspired my y focus on one thing. It was by Nick Lober of the Side Hustle Nation. I stumbled upon this podcast a few months ago while scrolling through iTunes. The episode was titled Micro Habits: The Too-Small-to-Fail Plan for Big Results. It discussed how you should not make New Year resolutions, but instead, make small daily habits that take less than a minute to complete.
Some examples he cited were flossing one tooth and doing a pushup. The goal with these short activities was to hopefully motivate to keep going. Eventually, you will finish flossing all your teeth. Or maybe you would be able to increase the number of pushups you can do before you get tired.
The combination of small daily habits with ONE clear cut goal will propel you forward. Whether you are looking to make more money, improve your health, or spend more time with your family using this combination of practices will give you success to attain what you want to achieve.
These sources were an inspiration to prevent me from looking back in anger and regret. Instead, I am looking forward and continue on my journey of self-improvement.
Focus On One Thing and Break It Down into Manageable Steps
So don’t write any New Year promises or resolutions instead focus on one thing and learn how to break down the barriers with smaller steps.
Some examples of this would be:
- Drink too many sweet beverages? Take one of those drinks and cut it in half for 1 day
- Not drinking enough water? Add a notification to your work calendar telling you to drink every hour
- Not getting to the gym?
- Wake up 30 minutes earlier so you can work out in the morning and get it over with
- Want to add more veggies to your diet? Try a new vegetable that is in season in the grocery store and look up a fun way to make it taste great Eating out all the time?
- Order a meal delivery service that you can cook the food yourself
- Want to lose 10 lbs? Track one meal to see how much you are really eating
- Constantly tired? Track how many hours of sleep you are getting and add an extra hour each night until you have enough rest and can get through your day
Focus on One Thing Until It’s Done
When you have a lot of tasks at hand be sure to start with the most urgent. Breaking these big obstacles down can help you get to focus on one thing and actually get what you need done.
More Nutrition Tips
- Tips for a Stress-Free Holiday
- How Antioxidants and Improve Stress
- Protein Bars for Those Stressful Days
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