It’s a little over a week into the New Year. Many have just begun working towards their resolutions, while at the same time, many have already given up on theirs.

A few years ago I decided not to go down this route and strayed away from setting any more New Year’s Resolutions.

I would often decide on something that I assumed would make me feel better – going to the gym 4 times a week, quit drinking soda, etc. I then realized that I, like many, can be disciplined for a while, but then get off course and move on the next thing allowing that resolution drift off to no-man’s land.

So, I decided to set my own rules and began finding what works best for me.

If you’re in your 20’s, like me, this is a great time to begin to form healthy habits. These habits you develop end up controlling you. Decide now which habits you want those to be…

For the past year and a half, I have been using a system (borrowed from Buster Benson) that I may break down in another post. Very simply, I set certain themes/goals at the beginning of each month and I will then check back at the end of the month and see if I was satisfied with my efforts/results. If I missed my mark, I then find what, if anything, was tied to my failure. This allows me to adjust themes/goals throughout the year based on my circumstances. I find myself sticking to this system much more than any New Year’s Resolution in past years. **Feel free to ask me about my system anytime

At the end of the year, I had a little time to think about what areas I would like to focus my themes/goals on. So I started to do a personal inventory on different dynamics of my life that has some sort of control over me. These can be thoughts/substances/emotions tied to past events among other things. My goal with this exercise was to give myself an idea of various themes and goals I can set for myself in the next year.

This simple exercise was rewarding, so I wanted to share.

1 – Pay close attention to what controls you in your life. What is constantly on your mind? What is holding you back? Are you addicted to anything? List everything you can.

2 – Determine if they are healthy or unhealthy.

• If healthy, you can choose to do nothing with them.
• If unhealthy, you can evaluate if it is worth the time to improve on.

3 – Choose the top 3.

These can be used to shape your goals going forward.

I know this may sound pretty general, so I will give you some common examples I found for myself and noticed in others:

• Unhealthy Relationships
• Sugar (leading to more cravings)
• Consumerism and Materialism
• Money
• Social Media
• Past Traumas
• Video Games
• TV
• Resistance to Change (and resistance to taking action)
• Other various forms of fear

I have chosen my 3 for this year. I plan on keeping these in mind when setting my monthly goals and themes for the upcoming year. This will allow me to remember the important dynamics that are holding me back in various ways and work on gaining control of them instead of allowing them to control me.

There are obstacles we must overcome to improve our well-being. Some are obvious. Some need to be discovered.

And some of the chains need to be broken.