Avoid These 5 To Do List Mistakes In 2018

The New Year is approaching. Every year, millions of Americans undergo the process of making resolutions. However, not all are met. You’re probably wondering – how can I make an effective resolution goal? Making a resolution is the easy part, but identifying past mistakes can be tricky. It’s important to avoid common pitfalls to prevent our undesirable habits from carrying over to the next year.

Here’s how you can avoid these common mistakes in 2018:

1) Stop Overthinking

Let’s face it. We all overthink things without realizing it. This could be preparing for an upcoming academic year or gearing up for a lifestyle change. We have all felt some form of anxiety and stress in figuring out the “how” in achieving our goals. However, change begins when we start to become more aware of our surroundings and our situation. Before you can begin to address your habit of overthinking, start by visualizing what can go right.

2) Set Realistic Goals

Stop waiting for perfection. Being ambitious is a great quality, but it can be debilitating for your health if you set unrealistic and impractical goals. Plans change, and you may find your goals to be continuously changing over time. Start by setting small, measurable goals. For instance, every week, commit completing a task. After every task, you should assess how you have performed and whether you should challenge yourself for next week.

3) Commit to Your Goals

Setting a realistic goal is one thing, but being able to follow-up on your goal in another new task. Self-discipline is a quality that must come from one’s motivation. The more motivated you are, the more likely you will continue to pursue your goal. Start by answering why you want to achieve this goal and how much it means to you. The more personalized your goals are, the more likely you will feel motivated to complete it.

4) Prioritize

When making new year’s resolutions, you may find yourself unsure of where to begin. For instance, you may put weight loss as one resolution, but you might find yourself delaying that process until the end of the year. For major lifestyle changes such as weight loss, it’s important to put this resolution on top of your list. Making a lifestyle change doesn’t happen overnight, it may take you several months to see real results. It’s better to start early!

5) Avoid Conflicts

It’s best to discuss frustration in a calm demeanor so that you don’t blurt out hurtful comments to your loved ones.  Avoiding conflicts causes tensions that will always leave you in a negative mood. Never start a new year with an unresolved conflict, because the same problem will occur again. It’s much healthier to address and resolve conflict with a clear mind. If a similar situation were to arise you’d have more better control handling it.

These scenarios can happen to anyone. If you take consideration on some of these tips, you can at least avoid unnecessary stress and anxiety and turn it into something productive and useful. Resolutions shouldn’t be a spontaneous list of unrealistic goals. They should be used for our own self-assessments on how one can achieve self-improvement in a healthy and positive method.

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