This Year I Resolve To Do Less – New Years Resolutions 2016

Less is more. That’s something I’ve been coming to realize more and more over the last year. I feel like up until this year I’ve been so focussed on how much I can make and get and do and be. I’ve been hoarding craft supplies for every possible need, keeping clothes that don’t fit because “they might fit me one day”, cleaning out thrift stores of anything I find remotely useful or nice, and filling my to-do list with so many different wants and needs that I just can’t keep up.

It’s all just too much. I’m finally coming around to it, due in part to picking up a very helpful book on simplifying and organizing, and in part to my own realizations that life – especially with a toddler – isn’t enjoyable when you’re spread so thin that each day feels like a failure. My mind has experienced a bit of a revolution, and I am ready to embrace the happiness that I notice with every purge and minimalizing decision.

This year, instead of resolving to do more, I resolve to do less. In fact, I won’t be making a giant list of New Years resolutions and kicking myself in February for having dropped the ball on most (or all) of them. When I look back at last year’s resolutions, I see a whole mess of grand plans that were doomed to fail. While I did make some headway in most of the things I aimed to accomplish, I have to admit that things didn’t really pan out the way that I hoped they would. And you know what? That’s okay. That’s the beautiful thing about resolutions: you can always make more.

I have one real goal for the coming calendar year. I’m going to sum everything up in one-word to keep in mind throughout everything that comes with 2016, like I’ve noticed many other bloggers doing last year while I was whipping up a crazy concoction of over-the-top intentions. Starting an online crafting business? Writing a book? Learning new songs on the guitar monthly? Clearing out my home and organizing everything? All while raising a toddler as a stay-at-home-mama? I’m sure there was more, too, but I just don’t have to heart to revisit it all. The past is gone, and I’m ready for what’s to come.

So here’s the word. It’s something I know I could really use in my life. Something I hope will help me achieve more by doing less.

Focus.

I want to be able to put my mind to what I want to do, and actually do things properly. I’m such a crazy flutter of here-there-and-everywhere that I find it very difficult to do any one thing to completion (let alone satisfactorily). I need to work on reigning my intentions in, so in 2016 I will focus on focussing. I’m working on some helpful strategies to get the hang of this “focusing” thing, and I plan on sharing my strategies once they’re a little more put together.

What do you do to keep your focus? I could really use some suggestions and tried and true tactics for making this year (and my life) more successful on the focusing front. Comment below, or get in touch with me over Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Here’s to the coming new year. May it be full of life, love, laughter and focus!