Kids & Family
How to make New School Year Resolutions finally stick
Using strategies from Mel Robbins book "The 5 Second Rule", you can make your new school year resolutions stick.
Every year families across the country get ready for the new school year. Parents plan for this to be the year they are going to be organized and have engaging dinner conversations and nail the work/school/family balance. And then the school year starts and the best of intentions go out the window. Halloween hits and families feel just as stressed, disorganized and overwhelmed as ever. What gives?!
This year you can make new school year resolutions stick with a little help from Mel Robbins. Mel is an American on-air CNN commentator, television host, author, and a motivational speaker and she has tools and strategies for you to try that will help change old habits and create new ones.
In her book, Mel writes extensively about how being the “boss” of your morning can have a cascading effect on the rest of your day. How you start your day has a powerful impact on the way the rest of the day goes. Hitting the snooze button, and checking email and social media before your feet even hit the floor gets your day off track. Enter a morning routine. Research shows that waking up with your alarm, getting out of bed and taking a few minutes to plan your day (either in a journal or planner) can make a big difference on your productivity and energy levels. Before you check your work email you should check in with yourself. What are your top priorities for the day? How can you make sure your goals and projects happen? Some people also incorporate a quiet time with a cup of coffee to read, pray or meditate before the craziness of the school rush starts. This can mean waking up a bit earlier but research consistently shows that having a morning routine and ritual leads to more streamlined and stress-free mornings. Another tip is to get as much prepared for the next morning as you can the night before. If clothes are laid out, lunches packed and the coffee pot readied to go it’s less you have to stress about it the morning. Push yourself the night before to get organized for the next day and your future morning self will thank you.
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You may be thinking, “I know all the things I should do to be more organized and productive, but it’s just so hard to force myself to do it”. You are not alone. Many people report that they struggle with things like being organized and productive, especially with children. On her blog Mel explains, “The 5 Second Rule is simple. If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it. The moment you feel an instinct or a desire to act on a goal or a commitment, use the Rule. When you feel yourself hesitate before doing something that you know you should do, count 5-4-3-2-1-GO and move towards action. You can start the momentum before the barrage of thoughts and excuses hit you at full force. What do you do? Just start counting backwards to yourself: 5-4-3-2-1. The counting will focus you on the goal or commitment and distract you from the worries, thoughts, and excuses in your mind. As soon as you reach “1” – push yourself to move. This is how you push yourself to do the hard stuff – the work that you don’t feel like doing, or you’re scared of doing, or you’re avoiding”.
One example for the school year might be meal planning. You say at the beginning of the school year “I am going to take time on Sundays to plan for and shop for our weekly meals”. When Sunday hits and you are tired and start make excuses to avoid meal planning - use the rule. 5-4-3-2-1-GO and pull out your pen and paper to start making your grocery list. Another example might be laying out school clothes in the evening. You might feel really tired and start to think about leaving this task until the morning. You can use the rule 5-4-3-2-1-GO to get the job done and prevent yourself from putting it off.
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If it sounds simple-it is. However that does not mean that it is easy. You have to ask yourself if you really want to make these changes/routines and habits stick. If you are serious and really want to give it a try- I highly recommend her book “The 5-Second Rule” and accompanying morning journal available on Amazon.
References
Morning Routines