New Month Resolutions

We’re all familiar with New Year resolutions, but have you heard of new month resolutions? Clue’s in the name really – it’s all about setting yourself a small, achievable goal every month.

I’ve been doing it for 3 months now and I’ve found it really helpful. I feel more driven, positive and like I’m gradually achieving something every month. And I’ve found it to be a great self-confidence and resilience booster too.

So I thought I’d write this post to explain how I’ve found new month resolutions helpful, and why it’s the only resolution I’ve actually managed to stick to!

You get 12 chances at achieving your goals

One of the key things I love about new month resolutions is it gives you more chances to achieve your goals. With new year resolutions, we can easily feel defeated when the end of January rolls around and we realise we haven’t stuck to our new year’s resolutions. We’ve all had that feeling at some point.

But with new month resolutions you get a new chance to achieve your goals every month, so if this month’s resolutions didn’t go to plan, it’s ok because you have a fresh new month coming up when you can turn over a new leaf and try again.

Your resolutions can change as you change

When you think about it, it’s actually quite strange that new year’s resolutions exist at all. We change so much over the course of 12 months, why would we set ourselves just one goal for a whole year?

Whereas with monthly resolutions your goals can change as your priorities shift across the year. You can pick a different goal for each month, reflecting what you feel is important for your life at that moment. So you could decide that this month you’re going to focus on eating healthier, and then next month your resolutions could be around working towards a career goal you’re aiming for.

Slow and steady wins the race

Breaking goals down into smaller steps, or micro-goals, is a great way to achieve them. In today’s fast-paced, social media influenced world it can feel like everyone around you is achieving great things, seemingly overnight. But in reality, progress is a marathon not a sprint.

Breaking tasks down into smaller, more manageable chunks is reflected in so many areas of life, from the Pomodoro Technique to HIIT workouts. So why not apply it to achieving your goals? You could choose to have one overall aim for the year, like improving your fitness, and then break that down into 12 goals across the year. So the first month you could just focus on walking more, and then by the end of the year you could have built your fitness up to be taking on a charity fun-run.

It boosts positivity

I’ve personally found having new month resolutions has made me feel more positive. I feel like I have a clearer vision of what I’m working towards, and every month I have the opportunity to celebrate achieving one of my goals.

And if that month didn’t go so well, I feel less disappointed knowing I can reflect on why it didn’t work out, and pick new resolutions for the following month. For example, last month my goal was to do some kind of movement for 30 minutes every day before starting work. But I found it really hard to stick to, and as I came to the end of the month I reflected on why it didn’t go to plan. I realised that I was really struggling to get up early. So I’ve decided this month’s resolution is going to be focussed on improving my sleep, so that next month I can have another go at those early morning workouts.

Want to give it a try?

Obviously I’m a big fan of new month resolutions, and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s wanting to make a change – whether it’s a big career ambition, or just smaller, personal goals. If you’re working towards a new goal, or just interested to learn how you can boost your productivity by harnessing positive habits, then our Hack your Habits training course could help you explore goal setting further.