by Amanda van der Gulik
Did you start off the year by making a New Year’s Resolution? What change or goal did you decide to make for this year? How’s it going so far? Are you making progress? And what about your child, did they make a New Year’s Resolution too? Why? Why not?
There is something magical about the feel of a new year, a new beginning, that gets us excited and motivated to make some sort of change to our life. Whether it be to quit smoking, lose weight, get a raise, build a new business, or spend more time with those you love, most of us can’t help ourselves but to want to make some sort of significant change in our life.
Unfortunately most of those resolutions never turn into anything more than a good idea at the time. We mean well, we really mean to make those changes…and then life gets back in the way and we find ourselves the very next year with those same resolutions and that determination that “this year” we’ll make that change, only to disappoint ourselves yet again, over and over.
Well, it’s time to stop that cycle! It’s time to see your resolutions to completion so you can finally feel that incredible feeling of accomplishment that comes with achieving your goal. But how do you do it?
By including your child in your resolution.
Accountability is key here…AND you’ll be setting the best example for your child’s own success too!
By including your child into your resolution, I don’t mean that your child is part of your goal, but that your child will be part of helping you achieve your goal. This year, sit down with your child and tell them what your personal New Year’s resolution is and ask them to keep you accountable. Make a decision to write out your goal and put it on the fridge, or the bathroom mirror; somewhere where your whole family will see it every single day and will help to remind you about your goal, and they won’t let you give up on it!
Take it one step further and really be the best role model you can be for your child by having your child create their own personal New Year’s resolution and stick their written goal right up their next to your own and then you have to keep them accountable to achieving it as well.
By both of you having your goals openly accountable in this way, you will get a chance to encourage eachother without feeling like you’re the only one. There will be no, “Hey Mom, you said you were gonna…” or “Hey Mom, don’t eat that…remember?” With all the bad, guilty feelings that go along with that if you’re the only family member going after your goal.
If you are doing it together, then you’ll find yourself hearing or saying to your child, “Hey, you can do it, I’m doing it too!” You can encourage each other and laugh when you both fall behind on your goals but in a fun way that motivates you to keep on moving forward…and you may even find you set up a bit of a competition, “Let’s see who can get to step #1 of their goal first!”
Then once a month sit down with each other again and track your successes. Tell each other what they have done to help them get to their goal. Point out the good parts, mention the places where improvements can be made but don’t dwell on those, focus on the progress, keep the movement flowing forward.
Here are a few tips on how to make your goals more attainable and more fun at the same time:
1. Find photos to print off or cut out that represent your goal and paste those next to your written goal. So you can see the result of your goal as real. If possible, put your own face on your goal.
Example #1: If you want to lose weight, then find an old photo of yourself, when you were healthier, or find a body that realistically represents how you would like to be and then place a current photo of your face on top of that older photo so you will litterally see yourself in your present state in your new healthier body.
Example #2: If you child wants a new bike, place a picture of them riding that new bike, maybe go to a bike shop and have them sit on it and take a photo or cut them out of a photo and paste it on the photo of the new bike with a word bubble next to it that says, “this new bike is mine!”
2. Make sure you use present tense words when you write out your goal. Write your goal out as if you already have it. It sounds really crazy but it does something quite magical to your brain. When you brain sees words like, “this is my new body” or “this is my new bike” rather than “I want to have” or “I wish I could” then your brain actually accepts that this is your new body or new bike and when it looks around and sees that you don’t have it yet, it will begin to sharpen your focus on things that will make that your reality, like giving you cravings for healthy food, or getting your child’s mind to open up to fun ways to make some money to buy that new bike.
3. Create a short movie showing you with your goal, that you can watch first thing in the morning to get you excited to go after your goal; and last thing before you go to sleep so you’ll be dreaming of ways to make your goal a reality.
Thank-you for taking the time to read this. I hope you will take it to heart and make the most of it. This year make your New Year’s resolution your new reality!
Here’s to both your success and your child’s!
Cheers…Amanda van der Gulik…Excited Life Enthusiast! ;o)
Best-selling author, Amanda van der Gulik has been homeschooling her own two children for over 11 years and is the founder of www.TeachingChildrenAboutMoney.com. Visit Amanda’s site today to grab your FREE copy of her eBook, “50 Money Making Ideas for Kids and Teens” or her “The 6 Magical Piggy Banks” cartoon.
Did you start off the year by making a New Year’s Resolution? What change or goal did you decide to make for this year? How’s it going so far? Are you making progress? And what about your child, did they make a New Year’s Resolution too? Why? Why not?
There is something magical about the feel of a new year, a new beginning, that gets us excited and motivated to make some sort of change to our life. Whether it be to quit smoking, lose weight, get a raise, build a new business, or spend more time with those you love, most of us can’t help ourselves but to want to make some sort of significant change in our life.
Unfortunately most of those resolutions never turn into anything more than a good idea at the time. We mean well, we really mean to make those changes…and then life gets back in the way and we find ourselves the very next year with those same resolutions and that determination that “this year” we’ll make that change, only to disappoint ourselves yet again, over and over.
Well, it’s time to stop that cycle! It’s time to see your resolutions to completion so you can finally feel that incredible feeling of accomplishment that comes with achieving your goal. But how do you do it?
By including your child in your resolution.
Accountability is key here…AND you’ll be setting the best example for your child’s own success too!
By including your child into your resolution, I don’t mean that your child is part of your goal, but that your child will be part of helping you achieve your goal. This year, sit down with your child and tell them what your personal New Year’s resolution is and ask them to keep you accountable. Make a decision to write out your goal and put it on the fridge, or the bathroom mirror; somewhere where your whole family will see it every single day and will help to remind you about your goal, and they won’t let you give up on it!
Take it one step further and really be the best role model you can be for your child by having your child create their own personal New Year’s resolution and stick their written goal right up their next to your own and then you have to keep them accountable to achieving it as well.
By both of you having your goals openly accountable in this way, you will get a chance to encourage eachother without feeling like you’re the only one. There will be no, “Hey Mom, you said you were gonna…” or “Hey Mom, don’t eat that…remember?” With all the bad, guilty feelings that go along with that if you’re the only family member going after your goal.
If you are doing it together, then you’ll find yourself hearing or saying to your child, “Hey, you can do it, I’m doing it too!” You can encourage each other and laugh when you both fall behind on your goals but in a fun way that motivates you to keep on moving forward…and you may even find you set up a bit of a competition, “Let’s see who can get to step #1 of their goal first!”
Then once a month sit down with each other again and track your successes. Tell each other what they have done to help them get to their goal. Point out the good parts, mention the places where improvements can be made but don’t dwell on those, focus on the progress, keep the movement flowing forward.
Here are a few tips on how to make your goals more attainable and more fun at the same time:
1. Find photos to print off or cut out that represent your goal and paste those next to your written goal. So you can see the result of your goal as real. If possible, put your own face on your goal.
Example #1: If you want to lose weight, then find an old photo of yourself, when you were healthier, or find a body that realistically represents how you would like to be and then place a current photo of your face on top of that older photo so you will litterally see yourself in your present state in your new healthier body.
Example #2: If you child wants a new bike, place a picture of them riding that new bike, maybe go to a bike shop and have them sit on it and take a photo or cut them out of a photo and paste it on the photo of the new bike with a word bubble next to it that says, “this new bike is mine!”
2. Make sure you use present tense words when you write out your goal. Write your goal out as if you already have it. It sounds really crazy but it does something quite magical to your brain. When you brain sees words like, “this is my new body” or “this is my new bike” rather than “I want to have” or “I wish I could” then your brain actually accepts that this is your new body or new bike and when it looks around and sees that you don’t have it yet, it will begin to sharpen your focus on things that will make that your reality, like giving you cravings for healthy food, or getting your child’s mind to open up to fun ways to make some money to buy that new bike.
3. Create a short movie showing you with your goal, that you can watch first thing in the morning to get you excited to go after your goal; and last thing before you go to sleep so you’ll be dreaming of ways to make your goal a reality.
Thank-you for taking the time to read this. I hope you will take it to heart and make the most of it. This year make your New Year’s resolution your new reality!
Here’s to both your success and your child’s!
Cheers…Amanda van der Gulik…Excited Life Enthusiast! ;o)
Best-selling author, Amanda van der Gulik has been homeschooling her own two children for over 11 years and is the founder of www.TeachingChildrenAboutMoney.com. Visit Amanda’s site today to grab your FREE copy of her eBook, “50 Money Making Ideas for Kids and Teens” or her “The 6 Magical Piggy Banks” cartoon.
