Jan 4, 2014 | Life
I would have loved to roll this post out while everyone (including me!) was still in the planning stage for their Resolutions, but, alas, an Internet issue has delayed this post. But it’s never too late!
Some of you may have already made your Resolutions for 2014 – and others may still be deciding (the old ‘should I or shouldn’t I?’ question). After all, how many Resolutions have we been able to keep in the past?
I think there’s a distinct reason why Resolutions are so hard to keep – and why the concept of endeavors spanning a year are so difficult to visualize to fruition. Here’s how to make good Resolutions – and set yourself up for success! – in keeping them:
1. Don’t Focus on the Whole Year – Split It Into Parts
12 months is a huge timespan to consider, and resolve inevitably fades after a month or so. Why not split your year down into manageable sections? The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months
by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington advocates this approach in order to concentrate focus and productivity. It’s an excellent book on the piecemeal approach to planning for the long-term, and I highly recommend it in order to help you achieve your Resolution goals. Split up your year into 4 quarters, focus on separate goals during each quarter, reassess as you go, and the whole year of a Better You is way more doable.
2. Don’t Make Too Many Resolutions – Stick to 5 or Less Per Quarter
Again, a hallmark of productivity advice is to not self-sabotage from the outset by focusing on too much. Even with a shorter timespan to focus on, you can still put way too much on your plate by trying to tackle 10 or 20 goals. Pick 5 -3 goals (the fewer, the better!) with which you want to start out in order to maximize your results.
3. Make Your Resolutions Quantitative and Measurable
Don’t write down “Be more thoughtful to my Grandma” or “Get healthy”…be specific! How will you be nice to Grandma – what will you do? Write a letter every two weeks? Send impromptu flowers? What does “Get healthy” mean to you? Is it “drink no soda”? “Limit coffee to 1x per week”? “Walk 5000 steps per day”? Make it as specific as possible so you can measure your progress and make sure you are achieving the overall goal.
4. Create a String of Unbroken X’s
A common motivator is to have a physical calendar with your daily goals on it, and draw a big X on each day that you hit your 5000 steps, post a blog post, don’t spend any money, take the dog for a walk, etc. The visual chain of X’s that you create when you repeat these actions day after day, week after week, will help motivate you to keep going so as not to break the chain.
5. Create Regular Check-Ins For Yourself
Designate a day of the week, each week, and a day of the month, each month, to check your progress. Are you hitting your daily, weekly, monthly goals? If not, step back and assess. What can you change, how can you help yourself achieve what you want? Set aside 5-10 minutes at least to reflect and recalibrate in order to better tackle your Resolutions.
6. Create Motivators and Rewards for Yourself
Accountability is a huge part of achieving goals – as is rewarding yourself. Schedule in a fun experience, shopping treat, time with your friends, whatever motivates you as a reward for all your hard work. (These rewards have to be motivating enough to keep you going when the going gets rough – and help you put down that donut, refuse that drink, do an extra set of dumbbell curls…when you really, really would rather not. Plus, those rewards can’t be such that they undo all your hard work and set you back into the habits you are trying to change: i.e., a shopping binge for someone trying to curtail spending for example.)
7. Remember It Takes Time
It is said that to change any habit permanently you need a minimum of 21 days. Each time you do not indulge in that habit, you create new neural pathways that reinforce good habits. But the slope is slippery – and it’s very easy to fall back into old ways. If you slip up, don’t beat yourself up and decide to throw in the towel. It’s just one day – so what? Get back on that horse, back in the saddle, and keep going. That is the hallmark of a true goal-getter – and someone who will be keeping those Resolutions this year at last.
xo
Carly
Images source: here, here, here, here, here, here, here
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Jan 2, 2014 | DIY, Life
Another year has gone by, and now it’s time to do my yearly wrap-up of content. (This was supposed to post New Year’s Eve, but my home router is broken, so I had to write this at my local Starbucks, using their wi-fi. Thanks, Starbucks!!)
Every year on New Year’s Eve I republish a list of all my DIY’s that I shared on this blog during the past year. Just like last year, I decided to do a Best Of list as well, to share some of my favorite content from this past year with you: (more…)
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Dec 27, 2013 | DIY, Life
New Year’s Eve is rapidly approaching – do you know what you will be wearing yet? There is a definite trend towards wearing something sparkly, large, and a total showstopper on one’s head for that evening – and I just love the boldness of it! Here are some fabulous DIY’s for making your own New Year’s Eve head adornment to ring in 2014! (more…)
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Dec 20, 2013 | DIY, Life
With the holidays in full swing, it’s that time of year when holiday sweaters abound. Goodwill has partnered with Ad Council to produce a couple of cool tools to help celebrate that sweater-y time with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor about the (sometimes) questionable and ubiquitous HIDEOUS CHRISTMAS SWEATER.
Using their Sweater Yourself App, you can upload a photo of yourself through your Facebook account, selecting an avatar with accessories and hideous sweater of your choice, and send to all of your friends as a fun little holiday card. (Bonus: It also helps support and increase awareness for Goodwill’s mission to provide job training and community services to people in need.)
Sweater Yourself Now
In addition, they’ve also created a fun little guide for throwing your own hideous DIY Holiday Sweater Party on Snapguide. Browse through to get some inspiration and ideas for making this season fun and festive, and when all the celebrations are over, consider donating what you don’t need any more to Goodwill to help provide people with jobs, training, youth mentoring, and education. (I wrote a post awhile ago covering the life cycle of a garment donated to Goodwill…which may surprise you in the ingenious lengths the organization goes to in order to ensure that every piece of clothing has a final use (instead of just landfill). Seriously – if you haven’t yet…go read it!)
Check out How to Throw a Festive Sweater Holiday Party by Goodwill Industries International on Snapguide.
What could be more chic than paring down what you don’t need and helping others in the process? (And having fun while doing it 😉
xo
Carly
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Dec 15, 2013 | DIY, Life
The holidays are upon us – and it’s time to think about dressing up one’s festive table: pairing dishes, napkins, glasses, and accessories to create the perfect backdrop for your feast. Though I LOVE Z Gallerie as an amazing source of inspiration for the holiday table, most of the time I’m willing to plunk down my money for a little more affordable. Take some inspiration from these dressed-up table settings, and DIY your way to the perfect set-up for your entertaining this season:
No. 1: Layer a bronze beaded placemat under a red charger (a cheap plastic one is fine!), followed by a gold plate and bowl (Dollar Tree has some great ones!). Add a gold ball ornament inside the bowl, and a DIY Gold Starburst napkin ring onto a tan chiffon napkin (just get a length of chiffon cut at the fabric store, and hem). A DIY Gold Etched Champagne Glass completes the set.
No. 2: This time make your DIY Starburst napkin ring with silver spray paint, paired with a pewter chiffon napkin. Use 2 white octagonal plates and 1 bowl, stacked above silver ball ornaments ringing the setting. A disco ball ornament (can be DIY’d with CDs if you can’t find a good one) in the center and a glass with a silver stem (spray-painted with Krylon Chrome Spray Paint
makes the setting perfect.
No. 3: Use Tulip Shimmer Sheets to apply a gold foiling to a plain white square placemat. Stack 2 gold plates and a gold bowl on top of each other, adding a DIY Pearl Ornament covered in pearl and gold beads to the center. A piece of stemware can be co-ordinated with a bit of gold spraypaint in the center of the stem, and add a gold faux poinsettia to a hair elastic to tie a crimson satin napkin (extra points for adding some gold beading to the edges!)
No. 4: Use a square silver beaded placemat on the bottom, stacked with 3 silver square plates atop. Add a sprayed-on chrome bottom to the glasses as in No. 2, a string of silver ball ornaments in the center, and use a silver tassel from the upholstery section in the craft store to tie around plain white napkins.
No. 5: Use a flower-shaped placemat on the bottom (paint with a nickel-colored fabric paint if it’s not quite the right color), and stack 2 gold plates and a gold bowl in the center, filled with gold-colored ball ornaments. Use plain stemware, silver chiffon napkins, and a beaded napkin ring (using barrel-shaped clear glass beads on silver ball-end headpins).
No. 6: From bottom to top: a gold beaded square placemat, 2 silver square plates, 1 crystal flower-shaped tealight candleholder + telight candle. Add stemware with the centers painted gold (as in No. 3), a silver chiffon napkin, and a spiky-looking napkin ring DIY’d with gold seed beeds strung on to short lengths of jewelry wire that are twisted together in the center.
No. 7: Use a red charger, 2 white octagonal plates, and an octagonal bowl. Add some crimson plums, pomegranates, and/or berries (faux is fine too!), gold-painted stemware, a crimson satin napkin with gold beading at the edges, and a simple gold-and-crimson napkin ring (which you could DIY by spray-painting curtain rings).
No. 8: Gold sequined placemats could be made just by cutting up a piece of sequin fabric and hemming with stick-on hem tape if necessary ($18 a yard will get you more placemats than the $119.80 at Z Gallerie will!). Then add 3 square silver plates, a faux white grape cluster (spray paint something from the craft store floral section if you can’t find the right kind), stemware with the centers painted silver, and a silver pleated satin napkin (you can buy pre-pleated fabric from the fabric store, usually in the formal-wear section). A plain gold-and-white napkin ring finishes everything off.
No. 9: Use a faux white alligator placemat (like textured scrapbooking paper cut into a square, glued onto a piece of cardboard). Top it off with 3 white octagonal plates and 1 bowl, with a green disco ball ornament in the center. Add a green goblet and a green satin napkin with gold beading at the edges, along with a gold-and-white napkin ring.
Here’s to a Happy Holiday Table!
xo
Carly
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