Monday Resolutions

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to make those New Year Resolutions. There is something about the New Year – a blank calendar that offers a fresh start – a new chapter.

But take a moment and think about last year’s resolutions. What were they? How long did you keep them? One week? One month? If you’re like me, you’re probably beginning the new year with the same resolutions as last year. It’s kind of disheartening isn’t it? We begin the new year full of hope that somehow this year will be different. This year we’ll lose those extra pounds, keep that daily commitment or save some extra money. Research shows that 80% of resolutions are forgotten by February.

Yet, every year we find ourselves looking forward to trying it once again thinking that somehow this year we’ll do it! I’ve heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

So this year I’m going to try something a little different. Monday Resolutions! I actually saw this online so it’s not my idea but I like this way of thinking. Instead of looking at the whole year saying I’m going to eat healthy from January thru December, or I’m going to save x amount of money in the next year. Let’s break it down to taking it one week at a time. I think this will be a little less daunting. I mean the idea of losing 1 pound per week is not nearly as intimidating as saying I’m going to lose 50 pounds this year. But if we can lose that 1 pound per week, by the end of the year we will have reached our goal.

Research shows that for people who want to help others be healthier, it might make sense to reach them in the beginning of the week instead of a Friday or Saturday, when they are less likely to be thinking about being healthier. I mean how many times have we said, we’re starting a new diet or that new exercise plan on Monday? The Monday Campaigns is a nonprofit initiative that has taken the concept of Monday as a health reset and applied it to health behaviors, providing individuals and organizations with tools and resources to help them achieve their health goals. Monday Campaigns include “Kids Cook Monday,” “Meatless Monday,” “Move it Monday,” “Quit and Stay Quit Monday” and “DeStress Monday.” The Move it Monday campaign even began “The Monday Mile,” an activity designed to get people moving together. The Monday Campaign – the day all health breaks loose. I LOVE that!

These are such great campaigns! Kids Cook Monday helps you get your kids involved in the cooking. I think that including kids in meal planning, shopping, food prep and cooking is genius! Getting our kids involved in the grocery shopping, letting them see whole foods and let them find recipes they want to try is such a great idea. I wish I had done more of that when my boys were younger. I believe this is so important to getting them make healthy choices. When they are involved in the process I’m sure they are more likely to eat it.

Quit and Stay Quit Monday focuses on people who want to quit smoking.
DeStress Monday reminds us to take time to breathe and relax. All of these things are wonderful ideas and are great reminders that if we break things into smaller increments then we can reach our goals.

Gold’s Gym offered up a memorable list of warning signs that your health goals are at risk and I think these can apply to any goal we have:
C – Can’t find the time.
L – Lacking a game plan to keep you going.
I – Ignoring your commitment and falling into old patterns.
F – Frustrated with lack of early results.
F – Forgetting why you started.

So my plan is to have my list and review it every Monday morning. Monday will be my “Fresh Start” day, my new chapter if you will. We can have a Jan 1 every Monday! This will give me permission to tweak my goals as I go. This will also let me make a plan each week for my goals so I won’t feel so overwhelmed. For example, if my goal is to spend more time with my husband in the coming year. That is so broad, how can I possible track this? But if each week I look at our schedules and plan an activity we can do together for the week then by the end of the year we will have spent much more time together.

If my goal is to set aside time for prayer everyday, I want this to be consistent so I choose a time, say 7:00 PM. We have a prayer meeting on Monday nights at this time at our church so I could just continue on thru the week with that time. So my first week I try it and find that works for Monday but not so much the rest of the week. So the next Monday, I choose a different time. This is my fresh start, instead of beating myself up for messing up the first week, I can just start new. Let’s quit looking for Perfection and focus on Progress. There’s a saying “Never let it rest, until your good is better and your better best.”

So what’s your goal? Let’s start it on January 1st (I know it’s a Tuesday this year), but let’s start together on January 1 and then restart every Monday. It’s a fresh New Year! A new chapter, let’s live it intentionally! Make this one the best yet, one Monday at a time!