New Year New Habits

The new year often brings the promise of a fresh start- an opportunity for a renewed sense of purpose. I'm not one for New Years Resolutions because I believe that goal setting can happen at any time of the year, but 2017 was a particularly challenging year, so I decided to take this collective opportunity to reset. Rather than going at my goals and dreams alone, I thought about how I could make goal setting a lesson and a tangible reality for my children. What are great New Years Resolutions for kids? How do you get kids to stick to goals and appreciate their growth?  The below video is a starter conversation on habits and goal setting:​

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We began our conversation with a discussion about habits. We decided that rather than setting huge goals, we'd break all of our goals into small daily ideal behaviors (habits) that we want to improve. Some of those habits included fitness, wellness, learning new things, and being aware of negative emotions or behaviors. In my years of athletic coaching and teaching, I've learned that kids have a better time when goals are:

• aligned with their interests
• tangible, digestible, and manageable
• connected to immediate and long-term feedback

These three components are in fact great for adult habit/goal management as well. We agreed to use the first month of the year to observe our behavior. We will use a habit tracker to fill in the days that we complete a task/habit and at the end of the month we will evaluate our behavior and then set our goals.

We are excited for a new opportunity to work on our ambitions and to improve ourselves. What goals have you and your family set for the new year? Have you set goals together? How will you maintain or manage your goals? Share with us in the comments!