The New Year can bring great opportunities and exciting beginnings, and is a great time to start new resolutions. The Christmas holidays provides us with time to reflect and see what new things we can start working on over the next year. “Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can. There will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.” – Sarah Caldwell.  We can learn from what worked for us this year and improve on what can work better. New learning and introducing beneficial changes into our lives can have many positive effects in both our personal lives and work life.

As we anticipate and look forward to clearing the cobwebs of the winter season, most of us will start planning new resolutions in our personal lives, such as losing weight, quitting a habit that doesn’t serve us well or improving our fitness levels, at the start of the year. We can also plan for positive changes that improve our working life. Improving this area can greatly improve our personal and family lives. Suggestions that can help will include doing a couple of tasks on Saturday that will ultimately improve our working week, such as:

1. Plan a weekly menu for each meal including healthy treats. This reduces the amount of trips to the shop and can reduce our weekly spend on groceries, and time spent on trips to the supermarket.
2. Batch cook dinner meals and freeze them. This reduces the need to phone our local takeaway for a fast meal, when we get home after a long day at work. It is also a healthier option and improves the balance of good food in our diet and significantly improves our wellbeing.
3. Fill the car with diesel for the coming week. This saves stopping during the week and picking up extra unnecessary refreshments, also reducing weekly spending costs.
4. Plan our weekly wardrobe for each day of the week. Having key items of clothing can help with planning outfits for the week ahead.
5. Exercise routines have a greater chance of success if we do our workout before returning home from work. If time is of the essence in the evening, morning exercising is another option. Invest in some good quality rain gear, for rainy days. Then there is no excuse to cancel a planned walk/run. For those of us that are a little less motivated, it is a good idea to call on the experience of a personal trainer to help boost our motivational levels. They can plan a workout programme that suits our needs, thus ensuring that it is the right one for us.

Plan some fun and feel good activities for the weekend. Whether it’s doing some retail therapy, meeting friends for brunch or getting out into nature, the benefits can be amazing. These can really boost the good-feeling factor in us and our energy levels to help us step into spring with a bounce in our step.

While the weekend can be a busy time, with catching up on household tasks and meeting with family and friends, it is important to have some down-time. We all need one day in the week where we can recharge our batteries and bring a little rejuvenation and restoration in the way of self-care. This can include having a Sunday morning lie-in, a long soak in the bathtub, a trip to the spa or getting an earlier night’s sleep. Whatever resolutions we plan for the coming year, improving our quality of life is essential for living a happier and more fulfilled life. We can give our best when life is easier and who knows maybe even inspire colleagues at work.

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