New Years Resolutions are great. I have made them for as long as I can remember and have often been able to keep them to some degree. What is it about the calendar year flipping forward that makes me want to reinvent myself? It feels like a fresh start, an opportunity to try again where I have failed in the past. You know that goals can be set anytime, anywhere and for any reason. Yet there is something about a shiny new year that makes me feel hopeful that anything I choose to accomplish is within my reach.

This year I have decided to try something a little different. My New Years Resolutions 2015 Style are to introduce a new 30 day challenge every month. A 30 day challenge is exactly as it sounds. For thirty straight days you pledge to make some kind of change in your life. The change can be huge, but experience tells me that it is better to make small changes because they will be easier to achieve. Achievement = Success and we can all use more success!

30 day challenges do not have to be momentous. They can and should be simple enough to keep for the thirty days. The hope of a 30 day challenge is that at the end, you have made a good habit, or broken a bad one and can then maintain your progress. A 30 day challenge typically falls into one of two categories: A) Give something up that you admit is bad for you. It could be a thing, a person or an activity…anything that you know you would be better off without. [Breaking a bad habit]; B) Start doing something new that you want to add to your life. [Starting a good habit].

Here some examples of thirty day challenges you could choose to try:

1. Do an exercise like 10 sit-ups and/or push-ups every day.

2. Learn to play a new song on your instrument and practice daily.

3. Eat your daily recommended dose of veggies and fruits.

4. Learn to cook a new healthy meal three times a week. On the days you aren’t cooking the meal, research and get the ingredients for the next meal.

5. Read a book cover-to-cover.

6. Empty your email in-box every day.

7. Get up an hour early and tackle a task you want or need to get done.

8. Walk 30 minutes every day.

9. Get in touch with an old friend or relative by telephone, email, social media or snail mail each day.

10. Hand write a card to a different person each day.

11. Write in a personal journal every day.

12. Record something you are grateful for each day. Or record an achievement you have accomplished each day.

13. Give up or limit television/video/YouTube watching.

14. Give up sugar/candy/soda for 30 days.

15. Stop smoking for 30 days.

16. Stop complaining/gossiping for 30 days. (This might be more difficult than you think)

17. Make your bed every morning.

18. Do your homework/studying every day without putting it off.

19. Talk to 3 strangers every day. (This one I made up a few years ago and it turned out to be fun. I’m an introvert so talking to strangers for no reason can be difficult and this really helped).

20. Ask someone for something every day. Many people have trouble asking for things so this is a good one.

21. Meditate for 10 minutes every day.

The opportunities are endless. Obviously, you can alter my suggestions to make them work for you. Keeping the challenge simple will increase your ability to manage it.

Here is where I need your help. Asking is one of my difficulties so I plan to ask someone for something every day. Today I am asking you if you would like to take the 12-30 day challenge with me? If you do, leave a comment below. Find me on Facebook or Twitter and let me know you intend to take the challenge. Let’s work together to achieve these challenges. Then we can look back together on this day in 2016 and see the immense progress that is sure to happen.

Here’s to a healthy, happy and more vibrant 2015. New Years Resolutions 2015 Style is gonna be FUN!