Every year on January 1st I find myself full of hope, writing down lists of habits I want to break and goals I want to reach during the upcoming year. However, by the end of January my overzealous lists seem daunting, and I give up more easily than I should. I know that I’m not alone. According to a 2010 American Psychological Association poll, less than one in five adults who made health-related New Year’s resolutions were able to make progress by March. 1 Why is the percentage so low?
Psychologists recommend that to be a successful goal-setter, your goals have to meet several requirements. First, your goal has to be concrete and easy to achieve by taking smaller steps instead of a major overarching transition. Second, you cannot get down on yourself if you slip up. Third, you should reward yourself for progress made. For example, if you are cutting fried food out of your diet, it is okay to designate an “off-day” once in awhile when you are allowed to go to your favorite comfort food. Psychologist Joe Taravella stated, “Being totally rigid 24/7 is not sustainable over the long haul.”2 Another piece of advice is to make your resolution known to your friends and family, that way you’ll feel accountable and will be more likely to follow through. Lastly, only pick goals that you truly want to fulfill, not ones that you feel you should make because of societal pressures.
In addition to this goal-setting advice, this year to avoid overwhelming myself, I’ve decided to assign one goal to a specific day of the week, instead of trying to do them all at once. Here are my resolutions broken down by day of the week:
Meatless Mondays
Meatless Mondays is exactly what it sounds like – on Mondays, choose to eat vegetarian dishes. This particular movement began back in 2003 with the help of the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Meatless Mondays has grown since then and is now active in 36 countries! However, it is not a new idea. During World War I, Americans participated in Meatless Mondays and Wheatless Wednesdays so that more food could be sent to the troops overseas.3
The current Meatless Monday movement’s purpose is no longer to save food for our troops, but to build healthy and environmentally conscious habits one Monday at a time. fossil fuels 
.4 Visit meatlessmonday.com to pick out a recipe for your first Meatless Monday!
Trashy Tuesdays
Many cities have now incorporated here .
Walk About Wednesdays
If you drive to work, try walking, bike sharing !
American historian Lewis Mumford said of the benefits of walking, “Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.”5 Keep track of the money you save every Wednesday by not using gas to drive and treat yourself!
Non-Toxic Thursdays
Many of us don’t think too much about what our beauty and cleaning products are made from. Every Thursday, research one of your products and replace it with a natural, GreeniacsGuides 
section to find some easy do-it-yourself, non-toxic products.
Find-Out Fridays
During a break at work, take a few minutes to read up on the past week’s environmental news. Two of my favorite sources are BBC News – Science & Environment and the Scientific American.
Scenic Saturdays
Get outside! Whether it’s just a walk around the block or a more strenuous activity, it is important for our health to breathe fresh air and absorb vitamin D from sunlight. According to an article published in a 2008 issue of the National Institute of Health-published journal, Environmental Health Perspectives, 30 minutes of sunlight per day can provide you with your recommended daily dosage of vitamin D. Vitamin D is important in helping bones form and reduces the risk of diseases such as osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, and heart disease.6 Just don’t forget to wear your sunscreen to block harmful UVA and UVB rays!
Sleepy Sundays
If I don’t get enough sleep on Sunday night, I feel low-energy for the rest of the week. There are a lot of different opinions for what is the magic number of sleeping hours your body needs to stay healthy. In general, the magic number for most people falls between seven and nine hours. It turns out that even skimping on 20 or 30 minutes can cause you to be cognitively slower the next day. 7 Start the week off right and make sure to get enough sleep for your body on Sunday night, wherever you may fall between seven and nine hours ☺
