So it’s finally February.

Are you still maintaining your New Year’s Resolutions? Or have you cast them to the side as you pick up your old habits from yesteryear? Well, no worries! Because this year is a leap year, which provides just enough cause for a 29 Day Goal Challenge. Basically, unless you rejected your NYR (New Year’s Resolutions) utterly and completely – this can be a good time to start anew.

This isn’t dissimilar from NaNoWrMo- where participants spend the whole month writing a 50K word length novel. Except, there is no end goal for the 29 Day Challenge except to develop a healthy habit you’ll enjoy. So let’s pick an example, shall we? A popular NYR is getting healthy or start exercising.

As you get started on the challenge, it’s important to ask some preliminary questions to make sure you’ll be able to achieve your goal. Actionable, and measurable steps will make it easier to get what you want.

• Why? Sometimes, other people can make us feel bad for our life choices (even if they’re trying to be helpful). So it’s important to discover your own personal motivation for why you’re changing your life in a fundamental way. If we feel like we “should” do something, it can be dis-empowering and we’re more likely to give up or reject it.

• Are you going to do it alone? Will you join a like-minded group? Finding a club or meet-up group who has the same goal as you (re: going vegetarian/vegan) can help wonders. You’ll find people to talk to about your progress (or problems) and you’ll have a great network to support you.

• Do you have a target? This helps make the goal more measurable. Health goals have physical manifestations, so it’s easier to see muscle toning, or your body becoming more flexible. If your goal is to lift 100 lb weights, it’ll be easier to track how your body is doing and where you are in your training.

• Am I having fun? It’d be completely fruitless to tackle a task that you don’t enjoy in, or see any meaning in. You may want to exercise, but if you hate jogging, don’t do it! Pick a dance class, or take up cycling. There are lots of ways to get fit, and sometimes the most popular way may not work for you!

Creating New Year’s resolutions can be fun, pleasurable and help us achieve results that could increase our quality of life. As the shortest month of the year, it can be a great time to work on a single NYR of your choice, and see how you like it. And if it works out, it’ll end up being a habit that you’ll love! And if not – alors, c’est la vie!

What is one goal or habit you would like to work on this month? Tell us in the comments below, and three winners will be picked to win a $25 Alice.com gift card!

RULES
Three winners will be awarded an alice.com gift card with an estimated retail value of $25 dollars. giveaway is open to legal u.s. residents 18 or older residing in the 50 united states (includes dc). void where prohibited. employees (and their immediate families and households) of alice.com, inc. are not eligible. giveaway entries will be accepted until tuesday, february 7th at 11:59 pm ct. winning entry must provide a valid email address (alice.com will never sell or rent your e-mail to third parties). we will notify the winners by email on or before next wednesday, february 8th. the winner will have 48 hours to respond to us with their name and valid u.s. mailing address. if this information is not received within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. odds of winning depend on number of entries received. sponsor: alice.com, inc.