Practice Makes Progress

Hello fellow readers,

The year 2019 is coming to a close soon and that splendid newfound hope to do 

better in the new year is approaching on the horizon, so I thought it would be 

appropriate to talk about New Year’s Resolutions.

Every year a majority of us make a list of new habits we want to incorporate into 

the new year. If you’re the kind of person that sticks to your resolutions, I am 

extremely proud of you! Sticking to your goals can be difficult and you were able 

to commit to them. I definitely love making resolutions. I normally don’t keep 

them for the entire year but it gives me something to look forward to.

This past month I have been binge watching YouTube videos about changing 

habits and getting into a healthy routine just to motivate me for next year. 

Slowly I have been trying to implement maybe one or two resolutions now so that 

they are second nature in the new year. It’s been difficult and I have struggled to 

keep up with them, but I want to do better next year. 

I started reading a book called Perfectly Yourself by Matthew Kelly that said, 

“Practice makes progress. And practice makes progress only if you practice the 

right things in the right way.” He discussed how you can see more progress in the 

big scheme of things when you set goals for yourself on a daily basis. For instance, 

one of my goals is to cut back on my sugar intake, mainly sweet treats. If I take 

away my freedom to have sweets whenever I want then it makes me want it more,  

but if I tell myself, “maybe not today,” it makes me feel like I can have, say, a 

chocolate bar the next day. If I continue to tell myself, “maybe not today,” 

eventually a week has gone by and slowly I start to exclude it without really 

thinking about it. Yet, if I really want something sweet, I can also reward myself 

with one if I decide to, it’s all up to me. 

 If you're interested, the cover is blue

Please keep in mind that I am not trying to push religion on anyone

Kelly also wrote, “We are trapped by our illusions of perfection, depressed by the 

difficulty of the road ahead, overwhelmed by our patterns of defeat.” So don’t 

overdo it and don’t put yourself down when you don’t succeed because if you fail 

you are not a failure (Kelly). So set your new years’ resolutions, big or small, and 

decide day-by-day if you are going to achieve that goal today, is it doable? If yes, 

then do it! If no, don’t beat yourself up about it and try to do it the next day. Be 

proud of any progress you make at any time of day because, “Celebrating progress 

is fundamental in the psychology of change.” (Kelly)

Set your resolutions and welcome 2020 with open arms and mind. You can do it!

Live every day to the fullest.

Love, Damaris

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