Resolutions Diary: January

Image via STYLE MAVEN

Hi there! Remember when I wrote about my New Year’s resolutions last year? Well, I thought it’d help for me stick to them if I blogged about my progress or lack thereof, so I’ve decided to name this little segment Resolutions Diary which will be a monthly post to let you guys know how I’m doing. So let’s revisit those ambitious goals I made and see how I did, shall we?

1. Comment on at least three blogs every day. That worked for about two months until I really had to focus on studying and barely had time to sleep.

2. Set aside a block of 1-2 hours at least three times a week to prewrite blog posts. That didn’t really work because I just tried to blog whenever I could for the next day and didn’t have the time to think ahead.

3. Use my agenda more: Write all assignments, tests, etc. down as soon as they are assigned. Don't write everything in one messy notebook! This one, I was pretty good with and much used my agenda all month. So yay for that.

4. Drink 1.5-2 L of water daily. I probably drank about 1.25 L on average.

5. Eat healthy: replace junk food with fruit or Greek yogurt, especially after school. Minimize portions and add more fruit and vegetables to my diet. I’ve been very good with this, actually and had a YOLO meal as Cassey Ho likes to call it once a week because there were too many birthdays and events to celebrate. February will definitely be easier than January.

6. Running's not one of my strong suits, so this year, I want to change that by starting out by running for 10 minutes three days a week and doing circuit training afterwards. Also, I want to follow at least three Blogilates videos every week. Make a workout schedule! I managed to keep this up for about two weeks.

7. Take three classes at the gym every week. This worked until the 15^th.

8. Follow the one-minute rule. I was pretty good with this as well until I let my bedroom become an insane mess last week.

9. Get at least 8.5 hours of sleep every night. Go to bed at 10 at the latest and plan my schedule so it finishes at 9:30 pm so there are no tasks after then. I maybe got 7.5 or 8 if I was lucky and 9 on the weekends.

10. Practise sewing for one hour every week with my mom. I sewed with her for two hours one week.

I didn’t really have a plan on how to actually commit to these goals when I wrote them, so that’s a big factor in why they didn’t really workout. I was just kind of like, “Oh! It’s the end of 2013. I should make 2014 really awesome by making goals and sticking to them.” With exams and summatives, it wasn’t really possible to keep up with any of it. This week, I decided to tweak my goals a bit and came up with a new list that will get me on my way to a better 2014. Most of them have stayed the same, however, I changed the wording a bit for a few others. The part in bold is actually my resolution whilst the 

1. Blog everyday.

2. Write three comments on blogs everyday. Catch up on blogs after school and don't forget to comment!

3. Use my agenda daily. Write the things I need to get done as soon as I think of them/homework as soon as it's assigned.

4. Drink at least 1.5 L of water per day. Keep a water bottle or glass of water around at all times.

5. Keep a food diary. Write down what I ate everyday right before bed.

6. Follow the workout schedule. Workout after school and don't slack off!!!

7. Follow the one-minute rule.

8. Get at least 8 hours of sleep per night. Avoid planning tasks after 9:30 pm.

9. Practise sewing once a week with Mom.

10. Calm down and just breathe. Sometimes, I'll just lash out at the wrong people (not that I'm violent or mean, at least I hope not) or not tolerate people enough, so I'm hoping to change that this year and be more patient.

11. Speak now. There'll be times when people say things that just make me feel like crap or say things to others that make them feel like crap and more often than not, I'll stay quiet. Or sometimes, it'll be something like just sharing my ideas that I tend to be shy about, and though I've been really good about changing that around these past few months, I want to work harder to change it this year.

Is it weird that it bugs me how I have a freaking weird number of resolutions? I mean eleven? Okay, maybe it is. After my good friend Bohmyi told me about Gretchen Rubin’s resolutions charts, I decided to make my own for each of my eleven goals (minus the sewing one) that I can either check off for each day of every month or put an “x” if I didn’t accomplish that goal that day. I’ll be sharing with you how my chart looks at the end of every month.

UPDATE: I also wanted to include some goals to reach by the end of the year as well as the other eleven little things, so here they are:

12. Reach 80 followers (on either GCF or Bloglovin') by 2015.
13. Muster up the courage to start a fashion club at school.

If you’re struggling with your resolutions, I suggest that you revisit them, make the appropriate changes, make some resolutions charts if they can be applied to your goals (if they’re daily things), and follow along on my journey to possibly, hopefully, maybe achieving my goals and keep a resolutions diary yourself! Make 2014 the year when you don’t completely forget about your goals by the end of January.

Thank you so much for reading!

- J

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