With the New Year entering its first full week, 'resolutioners' everywhere are beginning their journey towards accomplishing those goals.  While there is something heartening about turning over a brand new year bursting full of possibilities and renewed excitement, there's also the notion that once the year has set in and those responsibilities that held you back before continue to do so, ultimately not following through with those resolutions is rather disheartening.

In an effort to help as many people as we can, we're here to offer 9 ways to help see your New Year's resolutions through, and unlike other blogs we've published, these 9 steps are not exclusively incorporating CBD into your wellness routine.  While we'd absolutely love to introduce you to our products that have helped thousands over the last year, we're also realistic in the sense that lifestyle changes require more of a commitment than just a few drops of CBD oil.

Here's what we recommend keeping in mind as you build yourself up towards achieving those New Year resolutions!

1. achieve your resolution in 30-day spurts

For example, let's say your New Year's resolution is to be completely meat-free by 2021.  Committing yourself to this cause for 30-days as opposed to 365 days helps you navigate through the initial adaptation and resistance phase you might otherwise experience when you start the year.  Not only that, but a 30-day time commitment offers more of a reward should you see the value in your resolution, giving you that much-needed confidence boost to renew for the next 30 days and so on, and so forth until you have achieved your goal.

2. start with smaller, more realistic goals

Whatever your New Year's resolution may be, whether it be something like losing weight or simply choosing to spend more of your free time with those you love, trimming down your over-arching goal into smaller, more attainable ones offer more of the same confidence boost to see it through to the end of the year.

Instead of trying to completely overhaul every aspect of your mind and body - start with one of two things that are easy to implement, like going for a 10-minute walk during your lunch break, three days/week.  Make sure to place the barriers to getting started low and that it fits seamlessly with your current lifestyle and schedule.  Keep at it for your 30-day time commitment and increase the intensity in which you achieve those goals as time goes on.

3. improve upon your existing habits, instead of forging new ones

Have you ever wondered why it seems as if improving an existing habit is a lot easier to implement versus trying to establish something totally outside of your comfort zone?  This is thanks to learned behavior, meaning that for as long as you can remember, your habits have taken you this far.  To completely throw out your learned habit, is to completely reset the way in which you do things, and that might be a lot harder to grasp than by simply improving your existing habit.

Improving your existing habit in a way that makes achieving your goals easier is to take the learned behavior and simply adding onto something you routinely do.  For example, if your New Year's resolution is to establish a more-consistent dosing of our CBD Tinctures, and your morning routine is to consistently make yourself a pot of fresh coffee, it may work in your favor to place that bottle next to the coffee machine.  Due to the proximity of something you'll never forget to do, you are encouraging yourself to just take that extra step and take a few drops before starting your day. never miss making your morning coffee, 

This simple add-on to your morning routine accomplished two things:

1. It creates a simple structure that sets you up for success (Read: instant confidence boost knowing that you just contributed to your over-arching goal)
2. Further reinforces the habit of learned behavior in a healthy way.

4. proactively handle obstacles instead of retroactively damage-controlling them

One of the most common reasons people abandon their New Year's resolutions are unexpected obstacles that otherwise impede them along the way.  Whether these obstacles are unexpected time commitments at the office, the weather isn't favorable, unexpected costs, or you're just not "feeling" it, these obstacles are totally normal.  To put it plainly, it's not a matter of if obstacles will arise but a matter of when; so being prepared with a proactive plan should you find yourself in these situations.

Here are 4 potential Plan B's based on popular New Year's resolutions:

1. Get Out of Debt and Save Money. Meal plan on Sundays where you're most likely spending the day at home with no other time commitments other than grocery runs and laundry.
2. Lose Weight and Get Fit.  Place your workout bag with a week's worth of gym clothes in your car so you have no excuse but to hit the gym after work.
3. Quit Smoking. Keep a bottle of CBD Tincture Oil in all the suspect places you'd find yourself in just in case a stressful situation arises and triggers those cravings.
4. Spend More Time with Family. Look at your calendar the night before and if you know your day is looking hectic, before the time commitment you've already made towards your loved ones, consider talking to your boss about flexing your hours.  Arrive to the office earlier to knock out what you need to do in exchange for possibly leaving earlier, giving you more breathing room and peace of mind.

5. push through "the slump"

At this point, after the initial excitement and progress of implementing your new habit, there's "the slump."  Generally occurring about midway through the year where the daily drudge of life begins to weigh down on your willingness to achieve those goals.  Make a pre-commitment with yourself to push through the slump.  This is a mental preparation that whatever you choose to achieve this year is seen to the very end, rain or shine.

When you are mentally prepared, you'll be more likely to notice it for what it is and less likely to quit.  Know that this "slump" period will pass, so making the conscious effort to acknowledge it but keep pushing despite the feelings of discouragement on those tougher days only gets easier with time.

6. understand that this is all a process

As with preparing for the "slump" - start your journey with the mindset that adjusting your lifestyle to achieve a New Year's resolution is more like running a marathon versus competing in a sprint.  Having compassion for yourself in times of weakness is key.  It's easy to beat yourself up when you fall off the habit train but don't worry - the most important part is having the courage to pick yourself back up and realign yourself back into the habit.

Celebrate that you're making the conscious decision to improve yourself and you're willing to experience all of the process for what it is.  Trust us, your sanity will thank you during and after the endeavor.

7. do what you want to do, not what is expected of you

It's a lot easier to accomplish a task if you actually enjoy doing it.  With all the wellness trends going on, it's easy to fall into the trap of doing what everyone else is doing and be miserable in the process.  For example, if your resolution is to lose weight and get fit, but you've historically hated traditional forms of exercise (ie: THE GYM), perhaps there's a different approach you can take.

Give yourself permission to try new habits that you may actually enjoy such as:

• Opting for a membership at an indoor climbing gym.  These are great ways to avoid free weights and rely on your own body weight to shed some of that weight.  The mental challenge of completing each climb is very rewarding as well.
• Opting for a sport you enjoy.  Maybe you really like playing pick-up basketball at the park.  This activity is as much physically demanding yet enjoyable as a social activity, making your fitness journey a competitive match with others.
• Try fighting your way to fitness.  If doing monotonous tasks like lifting a weighted bar several times a day every day isn't your cup of tea, try getting creative with your fitness.  Sports like boxing, kickboxing, and other mixed martial arts teach you useful skills and offer ever-exciting ways to stay active while keeping you on your toes of falling into a routine you might not enjoy.

8. eyes on the prize, but stay flexible

This particular point ties in with numbers 1, 2, and 6.  Staying focused and being as consistent as possible is crucial to seeing that goal through.  But it's just as important to have a mindset focused on being flexible throughout the process of reaching that goal.  Life is forever changing and so creating a rigid schedule, exercise regime that requires you to be in the gym 5 days a week for a minimum of 2 hours each day, a meal plan that doesn't allow any cheat meals invites you in for a world of disappointment and inevitably failure.  What if the unexpected arises like an invitation to dinner, a weekend getaway for a friend's bachelor party, or sickness completely throws you off?

Staying flexible in all of this keeps you motivated to see your goal through, knowing full well that most of these things are outside your control.  Keeping your cool and trusting the process will only keep you moving forward.

9. set yourself up for success by keeping your cool in the process

We get it, committing yourself to a goal that will take a year to complete is a daunting task.  At times, even if you've set up all the fail-safe plans to proactively avoid inconsistencies, you might find yourself losing it anyways.  Consider that there are natural alternatives that don't just exist to help you stay consistent, but to keep your cool in the process.  One of these natural alternatives is CBD.

CBD possesses anti-anxiety properties and with a consistent dosing of it, you might just find yourself handling yourself like a calm and collected boss versus well, you probably know what the opposite of that looks like.