With every coming New Year, you might find your social media feeds overflowing with friends and family posting about what their New Year’s Resolutions are going to be. And in excited anticipation, maybe you create your own list as well…
You feel the positive energy of potential change, healthier habits, taking up new hobbies, becoming more mindful, focusing on self-healing… whatever it may be! It’s a fresh start.
But how do you take your Resolutions list and put it into action? That’s where it can become challenging… As the year goes on, that list can sometimes fade away.
Maybe you start a few from your list, but eventually can’t keep up with all the things you wanted to accomplish. Or you never get around to the list at all. If that’s been you in past years – you are most definitely not alone, and have nothing to be ashamed of! Building a new habit is tough work.
In fact, only about 9% - 12% of people keep their New Year's Resolutions.
But when you follow some simple tips for getting started on your Resolutions… Your success rate can go way up! And that Day 1 of your new habit becomes the beginning of a completely new way of life.
The day your habit is born can become the most exciting sense of accomplishment that keeps you motivated through the year!
The first day I made the commitment to start drawing daily, I was full of excitement (overflowing, even) at the prospect of this new beginning… And as of this blog, I’m at a drawing streak of 912 days of daily drawing!!
So here’s 3 tips to keep in mind when you’re crafting your New Year's Resolutions list so that the day you officially decide to do something new… change something in your routine… and your new habit is born… There’s a thrill of achievement on your first day to give you year-long (and beyond) momentum!
And of course… We definitely recommend you make “daily drawing” an item for your list ;)
Tip #1: Set Smaller Goals
Setting smaller goals at first will keep your motivation high enough to keep chugging along. For example, looking to drink more water? Set a smaller goal to start out by perhaps adding just 2 extra glasses of water in the morning. Then begin to increase your water intake after a few weeks as the new habit forms.
As you see the progress forming, you can begin to adjust your goal! Take it in phases and allow yourself the grace to make a mistake from time to time. The last thing you want to do is set an unrealistic expectation for yourself too soon… if you’re not seeing any progress right away, it’s easy to lose faith and give up altogether.
This is one of the main reasons why Simple Daily Drawing proposes just 10-15 minutes of daily drawing for improved mental health and improved skills. 10-15 minutes a day is all it takes! Keep your goal small so that you can hit it and keep yourself on track.
Of course, if the mood strikes you and you want to draw for longer than 10-15 minutes on any given day, that’s definitely encouraged! But just setting aside a few minutes of personal drawing time every day will do wonders towards any goals you might have for cultivating mindfulness and time for creativity.
Tip #2: Make It Fun
New habits are hard to form if you go about it in a way that isn’t FUN! We all have child-like love inside of us for creativity, games, and excitement… So be sure to pull that into how you cultivate your new goal and transform it into your reality.
For example, many people have New Year’s Resolutions to workout more often. But how you choose to workout can make a huge impact on your success. If you HATE running, but force yourself to run as your form of working out… Your motivation is sure to fizzle out after a week or so.
On the other hand… If you LOVE dancing or swimming… And get yourself working out through Zumba classes or joining the YMCA for some pool time, then working out will actually be fun and you’ll be more likely to continue.
The same goes for drawing daily. If you force yourself to draw using mediums you don’t enjoy, you won’t have fun forming the new habit. Or if you hate having to come up with what in the world to draw next, then it starts to feel like a chore before you’ve even begun!
That’s why Simple Daily Drawing provides creative new prompts for every day of the year to keep it exciting and to cut out the fatigue of wondering “what should I draw next?”
You can follow along with daily prompts for every day of the year by subscribing to the sketchpads!
Tip #3: Build Your Accountability Team
It’s true that it can be exciting to keep some of your goals out of the public eye, so that you can accomplish what you desire behind the scenes… and then excitedly share your end results with unexpecting family and friends! However, going at your new goal alone can also make it extra challenging. We recommend letting a few people in on your goal so they can help keep you accountable! Joining support groups can help you stay on top of your new habit.
When it comes to drawing daily, our Facebook community is full of people with the same goals – whether that’s to improve their skills, set aside “me time,” spark their creativity, improve their mental health, etc. And seeing the group members share their artwork and encourage others to keep their momentum going at full speed is sometimes just the right amount of gentle reminders you need to keep going!
So as you craft your list of Resolutions, keep these tips in mind:
Set Smaller Goals
Make It Fun
Build Your Accountability Team
And remember… be gentle with yourself! It can take around 3 months for something new to go from a habit to an automatic response. So in 3 months, make sure you give yourself a huge pat on the back and keep going – that’s an exciting mile marker that deserves some celebration.
We fully believe you’ve got this. (Plus, the monthly subscription is designed just for that reason - with sketch pads that arrive at your door automatically, you can focus purely on getting your daily drawing habit into your routine).
So if you’re ready to make drawing daily a new habit for your New Year… We CANNOT WAIT to welcome you to the Simple Daily Drawing crew.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Comments