One Small Change: How to Set Goals You’ll Actually Keep

Has your New Year’s resolution given up the ghost?

Mine too.

My new year is off to a very unimpressive start.

I don’t set “official” resolutions, but I did hope to start working out regularly again after the holidays. On January 3 and 4, I pulled out my yoga mat and did Yoga with Adriene. And guess what? I haven’t touched my workout clothes since.

Yep. That lifestyle change is going well.

To be honest, I get mildly irritated with all the resolution talk that’s been swirling around for the past month. Everyone is making all these big proclamations about how they’re going to fix their lives, how this will be the best decade yet, and how all their hopes and dreams are going to come true.

And I get it. The new year – not to mention the new decade – feels shiny and filled with promise. Something about the change of the calendar makes me think about what my ideal life would look like, opening my eyes to how much I want to be different. I want more of the good stuff, like reading and writing and exercising. I want less of the bad stuff, like dishes congregating on the kitchen counter and laundry lingering unfolded and the hours sucked away by random Internet scrolling.

But also? Thinking about all the things that could use improvement makes me tired. I’d rather take a nap than dealing with those dirty dishes, thank you.

Plus, I’ve tried enough of these grand goal announcements to know they don’t exactly work for me. Good intentions alone are not enough to get me to our apartment gym three times a week. Believing that I should clean the kitchen every night doesn’t actually mean that I do it.

There has to be a better way.

How To Set Goals This Year

Atomic Habits by James Clear is currently on its way to me – it’s at the very top of my TBR stack for 2020. From interviews and podcasts, I’ve already learned that it’s about how to set goals you will actually accomplish. The key is making teensy-tiny, achievable goals that eventually turn into ingrained habits. The foundation of good habits can eventually lead to big things – but you have to start small, with unimpressive goals that don’t feel worthy of an Instagram post.

(Want to know more? This article is a great introduction.)

I’m already itching to put these words into practice. So I’m challenging myself to scale back my goals, and instead pick one tiny issue that’s easy to fix. So my goal until the end of January is to make the bed every morning.

That’s it. That’s the whole goal.

Why this silly, tiny goal matters

Making the bed used to be a habit I faithfully completed every morning. Throughout college and before I got married, it was easy. I didn’t even think about it.

But when Adam and I got married, there was suddenly another person involved. There were two sides of the bed to fix. I had to walk around the whole thing. (This is ridiculous, I realize.) So I stopped making the bed every morning. And it’s started to bother me.

I’m not just irked because Ms. Manners says that I should make my bed every morning. A made bed legitimately makes me happier. Whenever something is out of place, I notice. When the largest thing in our bedroom is a mess, I wince, just slightly, every time I walk by. But whenever the bed is made? I realize how much I actually like our bedroom. It has a ripple effect – I actually want to take care of the clothes I tossed over the chair and the random junk collecting on the dresser.

So until the end of the month, I’m letting go of all my other goals. Instead, I only care about one small change. We’re making the bed every morning.

In February, I’ll choose a new thing. And we’ll move into this new year, one tiny step at a time.

Want to join me in making just one small change – or better yet, in reading Atomic Habits? Comment below, or find me on Instagram @annaleighsaxton!

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