A New Year is unfolding upon us and while many could not wait for 2016 to be over, my family and I have been really blessed during 2016. Our life change has been very positive, we are finding a new family balance and things fall into place not too slowly.

I will write again about well-being post and I firmly think this should become a tradition.

With every New Year comes the famous “resolutions” lists which we know by now, rarely work as they don’t last. It seems that about 75% of the people stick to their resolutions for at least a week, less than half are still on target after the summer.
I have dropped resolutions some years ago and hopped on the goals train. When New Year arises, I set myself some reasonable goals for the year upon us. While last year I set myself some rather challenging ones (we have made an international move, sold our house, sold our cars, sold most of our furniture, found a new place to live which makes all of us happy, settle our son in a new school…), this year should be more reasonable.

To maximize your chances of success, you should set a maximum of 5 goals. There should not be too challenging, and certainly not make you feel stressed or overwhelmed.  Think of baby steps, celebrate smaller wins towards small goals on build upon those. If you find 5 are not enough, expand, but be mindful to not overdo it. If you think 5 are too much, scale down. Make it work for you. Review them regularly (every month or other month, or the frequency that suits you) and see where you are. Do not hesitate to adapt them if you realise they were too challenging or not enough, too many or too few. Don’t think that everything is cast in stone!

I have set myself 5 goals for 2017

• Make our house a home
• Discover the surrounding Mother Nature and live more “au naturel”
• Reset our way of eating and shift priorities to eat healthy again
• Find out what is holding me back to truly simplify every aspect of my life
• Take on Yoga and meditation to be more focused

Some specific objectives are not listed as they have become a habit, such as “practice gratitude”, I know you can never practice too much gratitude, but I have become good at this and it is a daily habit. Others are not on the list because they are a work in progress, but I have them in mind “constantly” such as “reclaim your health”. I started this goal a couple of years back and I am working on it all the time. I don’t need a reminder for those ones.

My 2015 list is not too challenging, I might add some goals during the year if I see I reach them faster than I thought. The overall goal is that you feel great all along the way and that your list takes you to the next level. And is this not what it is all about?

Pictures sources: All my own, except the bedroom, Ramsden Farm