Olivia Jeanette

I’ll be the first to admit, I really dislike New Year’s Resolutions. I stopped creating a resolution list a few years ago because I realized I was doing them simply because it was something everyone else did. Never a good reason to do anything. The list typically consisted of save X amount of money, lose X amount of weight, read more books, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love setting goals and creating lists, but the problem with these lofty “resolutions” is that I’m not writing down the necessary steps to successfully accomplish these goals. More importantly, they were just fluff on paper.

Instead of saving X amount of money, I replaced it with…be more mindful about how I’m spending my money. These are the type of “resolutions” that allow you to accomplish things that are important to you and can last beyond just that year. At the end of each year, I try and take a few positives or things I learned from the previous year and firmly implement them into my routine for the following year.

I’ve been reflecting on things I learned this year and will be applying a few of the things below into my daily life. It’s going to be an amazing year especially with our new baby boy in the house!

1. Giving the benefit of the doubt

Matt and I have a saying in our house, it’s called the ” jump to conclusion mat”. We stole that from Office Space. Hehe. It’s normal to assume the worse and get easily worked up on your initial assumption. This is something that I can easily control and continue to remind myself on a daily basis and Matt does a good job of calling me out and vice versa.

2. Stop wasting time reading rubbish

That’s as straightforward as it gets. I often find myself in the comment section of articles and there I am, upset because someone in timbuktu made a comment I didn’t agree with. WOW…what a waste of time and energy. I need to stop and so do you. Lin Manuel sums this up perfectly… “DO NOT get stuck in the comments section of life today. Make, do, create things. Let others tussle it out.”

3. Be more mindful on how I spend money

We all know money does not grow on trees and making money can be a lot of work. I’m trying to be more mindful of how I spend every penny. There are a million ways to save a buck, but the overall theme for 2017 is being more cognizant on how I spend my hard earned $$!

4. Cherish every moment of the day

This is all more important now that we have Sebastian in our lives now. He is going to grow up so fast. A few days after Sebastian was born, I made a promise to myself to take the words “I can’t wait…” out of my vocabulary. The first few days after we got home from the hospital, I found myself saying, “I can’t wait to travel with Sebastian!”. Ummm, yes I can, because there are so many incredible moments between then and now. It has made me cherish every moment I’m with him and yep, live in the moment. Cliche, I know, but it’s so true.

5. Focus on me, myself and I

Comparison is killing our uniqueness. This is something we all deal with and it seems to be more prevalent with the rise of social media. Each of us have so many wonderful things going on in our lives, there is no need to compare ourselves with others or the latest Instagram sensation.

Whatever it is that you decide to do this year, make it meaningful and attainable. Furthermore, even if it is just one thing, make it yours. The year is going to fly by like each of the ones previously, let’s make it amazing each and every day. When things don’t go our way, we won’t dwell on it or let it get us down. We decide right then to make the necessary adjustments and move forward.

I wish each and everyone of you a fantastic 2017 and I appreciate you following along here on Corporate Catwalk!

xo, Olivia