Blog Carnival 1/6/14 New Year's Resolutions

Etsy Metal's Blog Carnival questions for the New Year!
What New Year's Resolutions have you made for this year? Which ones did you make last year that were successful? Do you have any advice for keeping resolutions throughout the year?

I guess the good thing about last year's New Year's resolutions is that I don't remember what any of them were! I checked back on my blog thinking that there was probably a New Year's resolution list somewhere on there where I could see what I wrote down, but apparently we didn't do this last year, so I am stuck with just my memory. 

I guess I resolved last year to participate in the Brooch A Day (BAD) group. Looking back to see how many I made, I was actually surprised to see that I made 107. In my memory, it felt like I had only made about 10. I just couldn't keep up with it this time.

I also resolved to quit eating sugar. Actually, I resolved to cut back on sugar. When I told that to a friend of mine, she said you can't do that, you're addicted to sugar, you shouldn't eat it at all. She was right, so I opted to cut it out completely and I did. Hmmm, seems like I started eating sugar again in June, about the same time I stopped making brooches... Seems like you could say eating sugar reduces productivity.

Those are the only resolutions that I can remember from last year. How long do you have to keep a resolution for it to be considered a resolution? Was I successful? I guess if I had said I wasn't going to eat sugar for 6 months my resolution would have been successful?

Onward  to this year...
I'm back to not eating any sugar, blogging regularly, and working more consistently.
Ok, I'm just going to say it, one of my resolutions is to beat all the levels in Candy Crush, while at the same time cutting back on playing the game.

My biggest problem in achieving these goals is I am easily distracted. I had to go on FaceBook to get a link that I wanted for this blog, took me about a half an hour. I started looking at everyone's posts and ended up watching 3 videos... they were good ones, but still... During that process, I looked up a few times with a blank feeling on my face thinking 'what was I looking for?' That is also tied in with procrastination, after all they both end with the same 4 letters (procrastination - distraction). Here is a really good blog on the 'Procrastination Monkey.' I swear they followed me around one day and took notes.

I was just reading this article, Forget About Setting Goals and focus more on figuring out a system or a plan. Like, should I have a goal not to eat sugar for 6 months or a year... or would it be better to figure out a plan for a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. It talks about how sometimes only having a goal can backfire because once you achieve that goal you don't have anything to motivate that behavior any more. It's good to get into the habit of doing something because it gets you past those impulse moments when your brain is trying to talk you out of doing something (see procrastination monkey blog.) I want to go to the gym regularly, but my brain can easily talk me out of it - oh, I don't feel like it today; oh, I'm tired; oh, I'll get other stuff done instead... BUT if I can just, without thinking, put on my work-out clothes, I'll think, well I'm dressed for it, I might as well go. It's that impulse that really only lasts a few minutes and if I can find some way/habit to get me through that I can end up being very productive. (Really, read the procrastination monkey blog!!)

So, I think that my biggest resolution for this year will be to figure out ways to get past that initial impulse that keeps me from doing anything, to try to remember that it exists and that if I can wait a few minutes before acting on it, it will pass.

See what other Etsy Metal Members have resolved to do this year!!
Laney  
Konstanze 
Laura Jane Bouton 
Abella Blue