Why I Approach Resolutions as Habits

We made it! I feel like I’ve led three completely different lives this year. January to March was my old life. March to June was learning to pivot, survive, and reinvent. July through today has been more routine. We found a rhythm and gained lifelong lessons. 2021 is an opportunity to put them into practice. 

I always start the new year with a clear sense of my key initiatives. This year, I’m excited to unveil new product categories at Rebecca Minkoff, release my book, and launch The Female Founder Collective’s membership program. I discern what will make those projects successful and plan the coming months accordingly. Priorities align my mindset so I can hit the ground running. 

I approach resolutions the same way I do goals. I know I can’t set an intention today and expect it to manifest tomorrow. Be kinder to my kids. Learn French. Read more. Sign me up! I’d love to pursue all these ideas. They’ll never happen if I don’t create a plan to achieve them, though. How many times have we declared: Tomorrow I will...And, tomorrow never comes. A resolution has to be a habit-changing behavior I can work on, starting today. 

My resolutions are personal, though I view them with a tactical lens. I write down what I want to happen and how I’m going to achieve it. From there, I detail the actions I need to take on my daily to-do list. It may not feel necessary to write down: Go for a run. It’s a reminder that exercise is important to me, even on my busiest days. I’ve learned that I have to treat my personal ambitions with the same urgency as my professional ones.

Change only happens when it’s constant. By integrating a practice into my life, I create an instant feedback loop with myself. This makes me my own accountability partner. I can’t gauge progress on my personal growth by asking someone else how I’m feeling. I’m the only one who can answer that question. Check-ins keep me on track. Am I showing up for myself? Am I practicing my new habit? Awareness helps me bounce back when the answer is no. 

Our resolutions feel especially personal this year. We’ve all learned which habits are essential to our wellbeing. Permission to prioritize them is one of the silver linings of the pandemic. The rat race is officially over!

What makes you feel good? What resolution serves that? Great, let’s get to it! 

What is your 2021 resolution? Share it in the comments!