If you’re anything like me, you’ve come to the realization that telling yourself on January 1st every year that you’re going to travel more or exercise every day never works out the way you want it to.
That’s why last year, I tried something new – 12 one-month resolutions, instead of one 12-month resolution.
And it worked (mostly).
In 2016, I assigned a different resolution to each month, thinking, “Alright Scott, you have enough self-control to give up _____ for 30 days, right? And you can definitely do this every day for 30 days rather than 365.”
It’s no coincidence I gave up chocolate in February. Even in a leap year, having one fewer day of “No M&M’s” was a beautiful thing.
But what I discovered by giving up different things each month is that I have much more self-control than I thought. For example, after giving up all carbonated beverages for January, I didn’t crave another soda for months. After giving up beer in March, I was able to discover some fun, new cocktail concoctions I had never tried. And after flossing every day in August, it’s now part of my regular(ish) routine – something I always struggled with because, well, everyone hates flossing.
Sure, on March 1st, I raced to the gas station to get that bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms. But knocking that much sugar out of my diet in February? It proves I can do it again!
Here are some ideas of what I did last year – feel free to embark on this fun resolution journey with your own monthly resolutions. I highly encourage it, especially for those of you who also tend to fall flat on your New Year’s Resolutions!
2016:
January – No carbonated beverages
February – No chocolate
March – No beer
April – No fast food
May – Walk the dog every day
June – Do something/say something nice to a friend or co-worker every day.
July – No dairy products (skim milk allowed)
August – Floss every day
September – Clean up every night before going to bed (no dishes in the dishwasher…)
October – Meditate every day (I struggled with this one)
November – No red meat
December – Run a 10k