Goal Setting and New Habits to get into for 2022!

I always see the new year as the perfect time to wipe the slate clean. Start a fresh and really try and set new habits and achieve new goals amd just give it a good go!

With the above being said I do also think that there is a lot of un-needed pressure surrounding the start of the new year which can actually make you feel pretty low. It’s just so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of everyone else’s New Years goals and resolutions that you loose focus on your own. 

Just remember to stay focused on yourself and never mind what other people around you are doing. There is no need to know other peoples goals is there? 

Here are just a few ideas of new habits that you could create to help yourself life your best life! 

• Get up a just that little bit earlier, as the saying goes the early bird catches the worm. Set your day off right, waking up just that little bit earlier could really set you up for the day. I used to wake up at 7:30am I now wake up at 7am. It doesn’t seem much but that half an hour just gives me that little bit more time to enjoy my morning cup of tea and takes off any stress or pressure if in a rush. That usual extra bit of time in bed actually just makes you feel worse! At the time you feel as that it makes you feel good but it’s really not. I don’t why our brains tricks us like this! If you think about it, it is exactly the same when going to the gym, you never fancy going but when you do you feel fantastic – why does this happen!

• Don’t wake up to a noisy alarm that quite frankly makes your heart stop when you hear it! Why not invest in something like a Lumie. This wakes you up as though you are being woken by the sunrise. It slowly gets brighter and brighter and wakes you up feeling relaxed rather than frantically sitting up bolt right to reach for your vibrating phone. How you wake up really aligns your day. The light from the Lumie signals to your internal clock that it’s time to wake up in the morning. Exposure to sunlight suppresses melatonin production, making you less sleepy in the morning.

• Rather than reaching for your phone when you wake up, reach for your gratitude journal instead. Write down just three things that you are grateful for and affirm them out into the universe. Trust me it is much more beneficial than scrolling on your phone looking at highly edited photos! 

• This is an odd one and some people may not agree however I really believe that you should put on a nice outfit everyday! Don’t wait for that special occasion, life is just too damn short. I’m guilty of this one, if I know I am going to be at home most of the day sat at a computer I don’t see the point in getting dressed nicely. I’ll chuck on anything comfy whether it matches or not. Now there is nothing wrong with comfort but when you haven’t made an effort all it does is make you feel bad about yourself. Have you ever realised how much your mood changes when you feel as though you look nice and like your outfit! Seriously, feeling good and confident with how you look really helps determine your mood for the day. (I don’t know if it is bad to admit that if my outfit is bad it puts me in a bad mood). 

• On that note trying to be conscious of your current thoughts throughout the day is really important. You might not usually realise this but your thoughts are so powerful and usually on a day to day basis these are sun conciliatory thoughts. The thoughts you are thinking become things. You are your thoughts. If you are thinking negatively you will feel negative and the things around you will be negatively affected. Consciously put yourself into a good mood. When you are in a good mood, you attract good things. I always think of one of my favourite memories when I feel down and I automatically feel so much better and aware of my thoughts. Just try and become a lot more aware of your thoughts. Remember that what you are thinking about is what you are attracting to yourself. Therefore to attract positivity think positive. 

• Less phone time, just stop scrolling mindlessly on your phone! We are all guilty of it. It’s one of my worst habits. I will check Instagram for 5 minutes and half an hour later I am still on there and now looking at some random video of a cute cat. This is NOT helpful and is wasting my time. Set time limits on your phone for certain apps to help remind you that you need to put your phone down amd that you have had enough. I set mine to 30 minutes each day for different social media apps. You can even download apps such as ‘Freedom’ which will help remind you to stay off of social media. Of course if social media is your job then you can’t help this! For example I have a long screen time recorded each day on WhatsApp however this is due to this being the way I communicate with my tenants and cleaners. Therefore I have to be on the app for my job, so therefore this will differ from person to person. 

• Unfollow accounts that bring you down. Recently just before the new year I went on a spree and in-followed or muted lots of Instagram accounts which we just not making me feel good about myself. You know what this is totally okay. I feel so much better for it. Something so small can have massive benefits. You should try it for yourself!

• Read more books, I found that this really helped me. Reading has so many amazing benefits. I never used to enjoy reading and now I love it. It is the perfect way to un-wind and relax. It also just helps you escape this crazy world for a little while. I just love starting and ending the day reading a good book, it is so much better than being sat on your phone or watching something on TV. 

• Listen to positivity podcasts or just podcasts that interest you. It is a good way to get yourself into a positive mindset and helps you feel good. It’s also a really easy way to learn new things. You can also do it whilst doing something else which I love. 

• Make the effort to get at least 30 mins of fresh air and be outside in nature. The benefits to this are just like no other. You can be feeling so down and sluggish and as soon as you have been outside you feel as though a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. Just walking and feeling the sun on your skin releases so much serotonin, I have never ever felt better than when I am walking along the beach in the sun. 

The list could go on but I just wanted to create a list of a few habits that I find are important to me. I hope that it helps in some way, it’s probably things that you are already aware of and may even practice them yourself. I just feel as though it is so important to try and better yourself and to become the person you want to be. 

Bye for now

Xx