I used to think New Years Resolutions were silly. I felt that if you wanted to change something about yourself or kick a habit just pick a day and start. Then, last year I decided I wanted to get my house more organized and finish long neglected projects. I followed the advice of lots of organizational bloggers and made a list of things I wanted to organize around the house and split them into weekly projects. I will admit I didn’t make it through all of them, but I did take care of about 80%, and definitely accomplished far more than if I hadn’t taken the time to break it all down to smaller goals.
For 2013, I have 2 resolutions and one big goal.
Resolutions
1. Make a budget and stick to it. I’ve tried a few times and never manage to stick to it because too many unexpected things came up, and we didn’t have reserves to handle it. Now that we have a little put aside for emergencies, I really want to stick to a budget and get completely out of credit card debt by the end of 2013, and get back to saving for kids’ college funds.
2. Make our house more of a home. Over the past year I managed to purge most of the clutter. Now, I want to add things that make it homey – plants, pictures, meaningful knickknacks etc. I figure if I focus on one room a month, it’ll be doable without being overwhelming. I’m really lousy when it comes to decorating as I tend to overthink things so much I just don’t do anything but the more I’ve been thinking about this, the more excited to make it happen.
Goal
Run a half marathon. I ran the Hot Chocolate 15k in November to see if I could even complete a long distance run, and I am proud that I did it with pretty good results for a first timer (1:34). Now with more planning and training I know I can do a half marathon.
My advice for anyone making resolutions this year. Go ahead and go for a big goal, but set smaller goals along the way to keep you on track. Give yourself appropriate rewards along the way. 365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months. However you look at it a year is a long time, don’t wait til 2014 to judge your progress. Enjoy the successes along the way. The smaller goals can be daily, weekly or monthly – whatever makes the most sense based on your ultimate goal.
I agree with setting smaller goals along the way!
I also need to stick to a budget and I’m hoping to do the Hot Chocolate 15K this year! 
The Hot Chocolate is a lot of fun. I don’t know if I’ll be doing it this year though as I’m planning on running the Monster Dash half marathon a couple of weeks before.
Good luck