How to Get Out of Vacay Mode After the Holidays

Ok so even though we are already on the 6th day of the month, it has felt so difficult to get back "into the zone" this year. Not only that but I feel like over the last few years New Year’s resolutions have started to get a bad reputation. It used to be a way to start something new or maybe restart something you should have been doing all along. Now, it feels like everyone fears the failure of falling off as the year gets going so they would rather not set them.
 
My view falls somewhere in between. I think the act of reflecting is so important to improving so unless you make a concerted effort to track and reflect upon your goals, they can become frustrating. What’s more is that as we get busier with the year, if we don’t keep them top of mind through a intentional system, they will quite likely fade into the background of things on the very bottom of our to-do list that eventually just fall off.
 
Planners have never really worked for me, I always use them for a week or two and forget after that. Then when I finally do remember, I've forgotten the planner in another room or at work or something. Last year, I started to find a system that really worked for me using both the Reminders app on my phone (it syncs with my computer) and a modified bullet journal that I made on my ipad. So over the last couple days to help get our minds (especially mine) out of vacay mode and into the domination zone, I’ve revamped my tracking template for accountability and a few of my tips to sticking with it and making 2019 your best year yet... but actually. 

• Keep it simple – When setting goals, don’t take on too much. Sometimes a good goal is to continue doing something you already do and is helping you. 
• Segment your goals - There are 3 categories that help me organize my life and feel good about keeping balance across the board.
  1. The first one is foundational - health - both mind and body need to be tended to in order to be good both at home and at work. 
  2. The next one is home, meaning the people you connect with most (they don't *have* to live with you, but be important to your network of relationships) and the space you either rent, own, or love to frequent. When these pieces of our life feel good, you have the peace and confidence to do more beyond the clock.
  3. The last pieces is to take action for your goal or passion beyond the clock. This could be the things that help you get ahead in your full-time job, hobbies you love and want to improve on, or growing your side-hustle.
• Write it down - Writing something down helps us commit it to memory and commit to it overall. It's especially helpful if you place it somewhere you see often, like in your bathroom or next to your stove. 
• Track it - This really is the second half of "writing it down". The ability to track against an expectation helps in two aspects, one, it gives you accountability to yourself, and two, it allows you to have a metric at the end of the month. Let's say one of your goals was to lose weight, and to measure that you wanted to go to the gym 3 times a week. At the end of the month you ended up going 10 times out of your goal of 12, you can feel good about being close to your goal. If instead you hadn't tracked it, then you would likely focus on the times you missed and slowly give up altogether when in actuality, doing a good percentage of you goal is better than nothing at all. 
• Talk about it - This is another way to keep yourself accountable. Talking to other people about your goals makes you not only want to stay true to it for yourself but also for others. In fact, sharing it with some of your closest friends is even better than sharing it broadly across social media so that you know people are really listening. They can also be a great support system to keep you going or get you back on track when you may have fallen off. 
• Reset on Sunday - Set a reminder on your phone for 15 minutes every Sunday. It could be morning or night but just sit and catch up on any tracking and take a little time to recommit to your goals and keep them top of mind. 
• Review quarterly​ - Lastly, don't let this process be something that happens only once a year. If you do it quarterly (or even monthly) you will keep focused on what you really want and make sure it happens. 

Most people think the hardest part about New Year's resolutions is sticking to them, but actually the more difficult part is creating a resolution that you can track and actually give yourself the opportunity to stick to. If you leave out the details that will help get you toward a goal, you can easily push that to the side, I mean there is no way to tell if you are really working toward it or not. So if you need a little help getting out of vacay mode, feel free to download this action planner template that I use and always always, text, email, or DM me with any questions. I love talking about these things and want to stay accountable with all of you.

xoxo,
Jessica