January is a chance to pause and start fresh. If you’re like me, you’re brimming with hopes and plans for the new year. More sleep, focusing on health, organization, time management…the options are endless – and exciting!
If you have your goals in mind and are ready to amplify your outcomes, try these three tweaks. Apply just one, or do all three for a real reset!
Step 1: Delete social media apps from your phone. It doesn’t have to be forever, but trust me, you can do it for just one month. When the impulse to check something or post something arises, replace it with a different behavior. Read a few pages of a good book. Pray. Do some push-ups. Go to bed. Endless options ensue!
Step 2: Take a month off TV. This is a tradition my husband Trevor and I started last year. January means no Netflix, no TV, no Hulu, no Amazon Prime. You can read more here about my experience last year, but one good outcome you’ll like have is more sleep. Without the temptation to stream “just one more episode,” you will probably go to bed earlier. A month where you’re finally getting enough sleep? Now that’s how to jumpstart the year! (You’ll probably also have more conversations, finish more books/podcasts, and try some new recipes, but the sleep alone makes this one worth it).
Step 3: Stop snoozing on week days. You’ve stopped staying up late scrolling through Instagram. You’re no longer binge watching The Great British Baking Show past bedtime. Now you’re ready for step 3: no more snoozing.
Commit to your alarm time and honor that commitment. Perhaps you want to get ready for the day without feeling rushed and stressed. Maybe you’d like to take time for a morning workout or coffee and devotional time. Whatever you do with the time, take charge of your morning instead of stumbling into it after one too many snoozes. Need help? Text a friend for accountability. Don’t pick the nicest, gentlest person you know. Ask someone who will hold you to it and check in with you (spouses can be great at this).
If you want to make an even bigger impact, invite your significant other to join you on your jumpstart.
Wishing you and yours the best of new years!