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2018 Intentions: Monthly Experiments

Monthly experiments in 2018

If you’ve been reading my blog the last year, you’ll know that I write a monthly intentions post where I share the monthly/weekly/daily habits that I’m working into my life.

I haven’t written one for January yet because I’ve been mulling over if I’d like to change the format. I’ve been participating in a 30 day Yoga Journey with Adrienne since January 1 and it’s been wonderful.

I started thinking – what if I did monthly experiments in one area for 30 days and invited my readers to participate with me? Or to do your own 30 day challenge every month in some area that you’ve been hoping to add to your life. The particular habit wouldn’t necessarily have to be the same, but the focused intention would.

Monthly experiments instead of new years resolutions

One of the hard parts about starting and maintaining healthy habits is that we often start too big. A couple of big ones are:

  • “I want to be healthier in 2018.”
  • “I want to start a morning routine in 2018.”
  • “I want to simplify my life in 2018.”

These are great goals for the year, but they’re huge goals if you’re just starting to think about making changes in those areas.

If you want to be healthier in 2018 there are so many ways you can do that:

  • drink at least 8 glasses of water a day
  • walk 10,000 steps a day
  • get at least 7 hours of sleep a night
  • have a green smoothie every morning
  • do a workout at least so many number of days a week.

Can you imagine starting all of these at once when you’re starting from zero? No wonder most people give up on new years resolutions. Yet every year we make resolutions

But what if you just focused on one thing a month?

  • 30 days of making sure that you drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.
  • another 30 days of just focusing on getting 10,000 steps in
  • another 30 days of figuring out what the ideal number of hours of sleep are for you and how to structure your night to
    get them

You get the idea. Give yourself 30 days to focus on one habit at a time – not fitting them all in at once.

Butterfly Progress Map

Where to Start with Monthly Experiments

This new year, I started a list of “Yes” and “No.” It includes things that I want to say yes to in 2018 and things I want to say no to in
2018.

One of the things I wanted to say yes to was yoga. My workplace used to have a free weekly yoga class every Wednesday at 5:15 pm. It
was easy to include that as part of my weekly routine – and I always loved how I felt doing an hour of yoga after a long day at work.

It’s probably been at least 6 months since they stopped and I haven’t made an effort to find a studio or a new way of including yoga in my weekly routine.

When Yoga with Adrienne announced the 30 days of yoga – I thought, “Great! A perfect way to get back onto my mat – no yoga studio required!”

There are other things on my “yes” list and one of those is green smoothies in my diet.

What about you? What’s on your “yes” list? What do you want to try adding in to your daily or weekly or monthly schedule that hasn’t quite made it there yet?

What have you found yourself saying at the end of “I really should start….” or “Someday I want to…”

drinking more water as a monthly experiment

A List of Possible 30 Day Monthly Experiments

Okay – so here’s a list of 30 day experiments I’m interested in exploring:

  • Yoga (thank you Adrienne!)
  • Daily green smoothie
  • Night time baths with epsom salt
  • Meditation
  • Gratitude and reflection exercise in the evening (vs. morning)
  • Writing 300 words a day
  • 8 hours of sleep a night
  • Laughter
  • Play and creativity
  • Dress up everyday (this is especially relevant for days I don’t have to go out of the house!)
  • Use only cash for the month
  • No spend month
  • No electronic devices after dinner
  • Some zero waste practices (this obviously isn’t fleshed out yet!)
  • Notes of appreciation
  • Acts of kindness

Some ideas for 30 day experiments that are already part of my routine that I’ve found make a big difference in how I feel and how our household runs are:

  • drink 64 ounces of water a day
  • walk 10,000 steps
  • make your bed daily
  • sit in silence daily
  • read and journal in the morning
  • meal planning

Butterfly Progress Map

You may want to try a variation of one of these if these habits aren’t part of your routine yet. Make sure to know your starting point and make your 30 day goal from there. If you’re only drinking 2 glasses of water a day, your goal could start out to have 4 glasses of water of day. If you’re walking 3,000 steps a day, you could make your goal 6,000 steps a day to start.

30 days of one thing to focus on. The point? To see if you really want to include it in your life. Does it make you feel better? Does
it bring you joy? 30 days of practice, adjust, more practice.

So January for me is 30 days of yoga. February I’m thinking will be daily green smoothies or a no spend month (because hey – if you’re going to do a no spend month it might as well be on the shortest month of the year! 😉

Each month I’ll write what my next 30 day experiment will be and reflect on the previous month.

Are you in? What experiments do you want to try in 2018? Let me know in the comments!

PIN IT FOR LATER:

Monthly experiments, another option for new years resolutions

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Comments

  1. I did could of this.
    Every day I will: read my Bible.
    Declutter something.
    Do something related to my blog.
    Not spend any money!
    I’m marking a calendar right by my computer monitor. I have to see stuff! Mental lists don’t work for me!

    • You definitely should write it down and keep it visible Melinda! That always helps me as well. I love your no spend year goal! I’m nervous to try it for a month let alone a year! Please let me know how it goes!

  2. Hey Angela. I’m excited I found you! I want to master habits this year & I know I cannot focus on too many or I get overwhelmed & distracted. I have started this year making the bed each morning & putting away every dish/utensil after each meal plus wiping kitchen sink out each evening. I have also started praying & reading the Bible each morning & I have been doing leg lifts & 15 + mins of an exercise Podcast (not every morning but my goal is 5-6 days a week. I’m so excited to have someone to be accountable with in doing these. The hardest thing for me is patience. There’s so much I want to change but I realize if I try to change it all at once, it just doesn’t last long term. My biggest goal is to start eating better & to lose weight this year. Yet at the same time, I need to make changes in the home too. But if I don’t start feeling better, the other goals are less likely to be reached. Anyway just wanted to share where I am. Any advice welcome. How can I keep accountable with you & others doing this? Thanks again. Donna in SC

  3. The idea of starting small to make those big goals is a great idea. The big goals can just be to overwhelming. The idea of doing something for 30 days is awesome. Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty

    • Yes – it’s much more “do-able” and also gives you the chance to see if you really want to implement it into your life!

  4. Do you have a link for your 30 days of yoga? I did some yoga last summer and loved it. I want to get back to it but not necessarily in a studio so this sounds like a great opportunity! Thanks for sharing at The Blogger’s Pit Stop! Roseann from This Autoimmunelife

  5. I love this idea! A year is just too big for me. I know that I can keep putting off my goals because there’s so much time left. Then, of course, I never meet them. I’m going to try this, regrouping each month with a trackable mini goal. Thanks for the inspiration, Angela!

  6. Great idea! I think monthly goals definitely seem more attainable and help you start forming a habit. I think next month might be focusing one meal planning/prep and/or exercising a certain number of times a week (probably three to start out since right now it’s only 1…maybe 2).

    -lauren

  8. I really like the idea of thinking about what you’re saying “yes” and “no” to instead of resolutions. Glad I found this post through The SITS Girls Sharefest!

  9. I love this idea — and just realized I kind of did it myself in a couple of areas last year — without realizing it! Two areas I was successful in last year were in daily Italian practice and reading every day. Oh, and I chose this post for my feature! #FridayFrivolity

  10. I am so excited I found your blog! These are all awesome ideas. Yoga with Adrienne is the best. I never feel like I’m working too hard, but am sore the next day.

  11. This is a great idea! I’ve done one already: clean up after breakfast right away before leaving the kitchen and moving on with other tasks. It’s now a habit and wasn’t hard to do. Doing this could sound so ‘minor’ to many, but it’s seeing and feeling good about the development of a ‘habit’ that hopefully will lead to bigger and more important accomplishments in later months. So many waiting for me…. and so easy to put them off. Walking a few times a week is another habit I’m working on for February..