<h3>Keeping New Year's Resolutions</h3>

  Can you believe 2017 is only a few days away?!
  Do you have any New Year's Resolutions planned? If not, it would be a good idea to make one. New Year's Resolutions can really benefit this coming year if you stick to them.

 Some common New Year's Resolutions include:

• Read your Bible more
• Lose weight
• Be more patient/kind
• Exercise more
• Start a business
• Write a book
• Earn a certain amount of money

  Today I want to write about accomplishing them.  But before I begin, why even make a New Year's Resolution? "I don't have enough time," you might say, or, "What's the point?"
 Well, some resolutions really don't require much time. Such as trying to have more patience.  But for the ones that do, I think that if you really want to do it, you will find time.
  And as for reasons to have New Year's Resolutions, one good one is that getting things done feels good. It's a nice feelings knowing that you just wrote a book or ran 5 miles or accomplished something else big. And setting a New Year's Resolution can motivate you to do that.

  Another reason could be to get something done. This is not the same as the last reason. The last reason was so that you can feel accomplishment. This reason is so that you can get something you want/get something done that you want done.  An example is if you have a room in your house that's a horrible mess, which you want to clean, organize, and decorate. Once you are done, you will have a nice, clean room to enjoy. Or you may be trying to save up money to give to someplace to help people.
  There are many reasons why you may want to do something, but how can you stay motivated as the time goes by and actually do it?

1. Pray. Pray before the new year starts that you will accomplish your resolution. Pray that God will help you to do it well. Don't forget, God can do everything. He created the whole world in 6 days; He can certainly help you with you resolution. And pray all the way through it. Pray thanks to God when things are going well, and through hard times pray for help. 
2. Set Goals. Setting goals is definitely a good way to help you accomplish things. Look at the big goal, and then divide it up into 12 little goals (one per month), or 52 goals, (one per week). Look at your small goal at the beginning of each month or week and plan how you will be able to accomplish it. If your resolution is to save $500 in a year, you may want to try to save $10 a week. Or if you want to be able to run 5 miles by the end of the year, you may want to run a mile a day for a month. Then you might have a goal to be able to run 2 miles a day for a month, and so on. Setting goals can help you to feel less overwhelmed about your resolution.

 

  3. Don't be too hard on yourself. If you miss a goal, try to make it up the next month. And reward yourself with a special coffee or piece of candy if you achieved your goal for the month.

4. Stay motivated. If you are trying to save up $500, you may want to write $500 on a piece of paper and hang it by your bed. Or if you're redoing a room, lay on your bed and imagine what it will be like when it's done. Also, some people have motivational walls, which is a wall, or a section of a wall, where they hang motivational quotes, pictures that make them happy, etc. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, it can just be sticky notes.

  5.DON'T GIVE UP! Don't give up. You can do it you try. Imagine the satisfaction you'll have at the end.  Work builds character; work makes you stronger. When you are tempted to give up, just imagine the end result. The organized, spacious room, which you'll do so much in. The $500 which you have a big plan for. The feeling of getting your first book published! Don't give up! You may be closer than you think. 

Laura@flowersinmybasket

  If you have any tips about keeping resolutions or staying motivated, please comment below! 

  By the way, it can also help to write down your goals. And here's a great notebook to do just that! Click on it to see all about it!