3 Tips for New Years Resolutions and Back to School

It is evident that with the arrival of a new year we want to create new, healthier resolutions, which are usually habits. This is a process, where to create it you need repetition and to do it for a while. Healthier habits have positive effects, but more in the long term, so they don't normally respond to immediate needs.

To keep the habits consistent, we give you some tricks:  

• Make a list as realistic as possible, well defined, short and achievable: To maintain motivation we must first start with achievable habits. It is important to know what motivates us for the change, the objective, the goal and above all, to be honest with ourselves. We should always start with the easiest task, to maintain motivation. See if when you start to get demotivated or make excuses it's because the habit is too complicated or if it needs to be levelled up. Evaluating habits and how they makes us feel increases self-observation and self-awareness, identifying and recognising one's own sensations. Being honest with ourselves is the key to being able to establish new habits.

• Inculcate your little ones: Like us, make a list of what your children want to achieve this year and talk to them about how they could achieve it. Let them choose the ones they want to start with (remember to keep the goals short and easily assessable). This is how we instill that reaching a goal takes effort, perseverance and motivation. Self-esteem increases when we perceive that we have achieved something that has cost us effort. The process is sometimes more important than the result, since it makes us learn more.  

• Back to school: In addition to instilling healthy habits, we can promote the independence of children by increasing their own problem solving. Boredom is important in childhood and adolescence, as it stimulates creativity and the creation of new activities. Encourage them to use fewer screens, and thus more reading, more creative activities, listening to music and sport. It is also important to create good study habits, with spaces in the home dedicated exclusively to study. This creates a safe space and links you to the studio.

It is important to talk to children, to try to communicate the idea that school can also be fun and not a boring routine. Through communication, we get closer to their world and offer them a space for them to express themselves and for us to share our ideas. Sharing the enthusiasm to learn, grow, study and evolve is key to fostering motivation and creating new habits. It is important to remember to be careful with technologies and “passive” activities such as watching TV. The use of mobile phones and tablets at an early age makes them get used to constant stimuli and quick rewards, so it is advisable to limit access. Teach children to make responsible and critical use of technologies.