if at first you don't succeed...

...learn from your mistakes and aim lower?

Did you know that 10 days into the new year is about the time that a majority of people typically have already given up on their resolutions.  Sure there will be the few who hang on for another week or so, and then there's the really strong handful who actually stick to it {props to them!}.  Me? Well aside from my decision to start letting the little things slide and reading at least one book a month {currently reading World War Z}, I didn't really make any resolutions this year.  Instead, I set monthly goals for myself because to me, it's easier to tackle a year full of goals when I break it down into 12 parts.  Plus I figure if I give myself up to 29 days to achieve something then I can certainly do at least that.  

I haven't planned the whole year out because I kind of want to leave it open and let life take me on it's journey.  Some months might have one goal, some may have more {ooo daring!}.  My aim is to take each month's goal and carry it forward into the next months.  If I fail in carrying it through the months, but succeed in the month I planned for it, well then at least I succeeded in one aspect.  For me, it's about setting small goals that are easy to achieve and developing the healthy behaviors to make the success last.  And putting it out here on the interweb universe holds me accountable to keeping on track {and having to check in keeps me motivated}. 

Here's what I've got so far:

January

Fall in love with running again.  I'm happy to say this is going well so far.  I'm not quite in love with running just yet, but we're getting there.  I'd say we're in that flirting stage and maybe next week we'll be 'seeing each other' or maybe even be exclusive.  I've got 21 more days to develop that love so we're going to take it slow.

February

Change my diet.  Last year I did my 30-day no meat diet, but for the past month or so, I've been reading a lot about the paleo diet.  While I know anything low-carb, low sugar is going to be extremely difficult, I can and certainly will get behind a diet that includes bacon...umm...I did post on FB that when I have a child it's first words just might be 'bacon wrapped'.  I won't be going full on paleo because I don't think completely depriving myself of something I enjoy {hello potatoes and cheese...mmm cheese ON potatoes...with bacon!} will only result in my failure, but I'll ease myself, and Hubster, into it so that perhaps by month's end we'll be eating an 80-90% paleo diet.  I think it's important to add, if only to remind myself, that just because this is a February goal doesn't mean to go carb and sugar loading until February!

March

Pay down debt.  My bonus check {c'mon baby!} is supposed to come in March so this was a no brainer.  While I'd love to treat myself to something nice with my bonus, what I really should do is pay down the debt I've accrued by treating myself nice all the other months of the year.  Since this goal won't be as much about what I do to reach it as opposed to what I receive to make it possible, I'm also going to try to make it a goal to practice photography more.  One of the nice things I bought for myself includes my dslr and I'm ashamed to say I haven't used it nearly enough to justify the cost.  So March will be the month I learn how to take better photos, and the only way I can do that is by taking more.  Expect for March to be a month of posts heavily laden with photos.

April

Run a half marathon.  There's one on April 22nd that I'm currently training for.  Two years ago, the first thing that got me to start running was signing up for a 5K.  I was so proud of myself when I finished that I signed up for another.  And then I said to myself I would love to be able to run a half marathon one day.  Then I stopped running.  And I thought eh, I wouldn't be able to run 13.1 miles anyway.  Well guess what...this will be the year I do {I really hope at least}.  I haven't signed up for it yet, but as long as I succeed in my January goal then I will.  I'm terrified at the thought of it right now, but that's because again, running and I are flirting.  I'm not going to be over ambitious and say I will run it in under a certain amount of time, I just want to say I did it.

That's all I have for now, perhaps it's best just to plan for a quarter at a time.  Again, keep it small and simple.

Did you make resolutions this year?  How are you doing?  And what tactics do you employ to help yourself stick to them?

{cindie}