Well hello there… and a very Happy New Year to all of my readers! Thank you so much for sticking with the blog in the past year and I hope we’re all going to have an amazing January together. It’s been a little quiet around here because I needed a few days off and a proper rest due to being extremely post viral and sleep deprived, and I think I’ve turned the corner on that now so it’s back to business, part time at least.

Hope you’re feeling more bright eyed and bushy tailed than that, but since today is New Year’s Day then frankly all bets are off. It’s okay if you had a big night out too and are feeling somewhat, umm, delicate.

As always, I like to start a new year with a few challenges, but I like to keep them manageable and achievable. This year is no different and you’re very welcome to join in even if those energy levels are low. For week one of January there’s going to be one new activity to try every day, always with a completely free option, and they’re all going to be based around New Year’s Resolutions.

Schedule for January 2019

• Day 1 (today): Start with vague intentions
• Day 2: New Year, NOT New You
• Day 3: The Goldilocks approach
• Day 4: Replace, add or stop? Unbroken chain or project plan?
• Day 5: The meaning of success
• Day 6: Schedule it in
• Day 7: Display and monitor

I freely admit that I don’t buy in to the whole ‘New Year, New You’ thing, but I also know that I like to have plenty to look forward to at the start of a dreary, dark January, and I tend to get more done when I have a few interesting goals picked out. Here’s today’s first activity, which should only take a few minutes and is absolutely free.

Day 1: Start with vague intentions

Yes, today’s activity is completely counter-intuitive. Resolutions, goals and other plans are supposed to be very specific if you want them to work. However, we often don’t allow enough room for ideas and wishes to breathe, or for inspiration to strike. After all, it tends to help if you have something to feel passionate about because that’s such a great motivator.

All you have to do today is have a good think about things that you’d like to change, try or do this coming year. It doesn’t have to be for the whole year either. Just scribble everything down as it occurs to you, and keep writing – you can sort through it another time, but try to get a list of at least three different things. It could be as vague and common as ‘get fit this year’ or as complex as ‘visit ten different countries in 2019’.

We often rush through this part of the process, desperate to get on with the action or going right into the sensible planning stage, but it’s so good to spend some time throwing those ideas around at the start.

For example, my vague idea is to have a new challenge for myself every month during the coming year. Just off the top of my head I’d like one of those monthly themes to be getting all of our food and drink to be plastic-free (that stuff gets everywhere), and I’m sure I can come up with a few more ideas for the other 11 months.

Do you have any vague ideas for what you want to do during 2019? What might they be? We’ll be sifting through those ideas and turning the best ones into plans over the next few days.