New Years 'resolutions'? Not this year thanks. Goals or targets are much more achievable

Monday the 2nd of January. A day where our hangovers from New Years eve have almost subsided and we are left a feeling little bit jaded, tired and sad because our 9-5 lives are about to start again for another year. Today is a day that many of us think about what we want to achieve for the upcoming year and set goals, resolutions or whatever other word you would like to wrap it up in. Whatever word used to describe 'resolutions' for 2017 doesn't detour from the truth that the majority of us will never stick to them. So this year rather than creating year long New Years resolutions, I'm going to set weekly targets, goals or simply tell myself 'I must do this' today. It can be as simple as 'I must get 9 hours sleep tonight' or 'Today I'm going to drink coffee without sugar'.

There is nothing wrong with creating year long resolutions, fair play to everyone doing that, powering through and hell-bent on sticking to them but stats do suggest that they just don't work. For me it is because we feel that a resolution has to be a major change in our lives, for example, the classic quit smoking or sign-up to the gym resolutions. These are just too bold and for many unrealistic and therefore fail, however what if you were to set realistic goals throughout the year which all added up go some way towards reaching your overall resolution? 

There are a few things that I would really love to achieve this year in life and mainly focus around travelling and keeping fit! Obviously the travelling one is pretty self explanatory but I would really love to tick off another few countries that I have never been to this year and generally just visit more places around the UK. My goal for this week is to book a flight for a short break to go away in January - I'm thinking maybe Dubai...I've been there a few times before although for a short break with guaranteed sunshine, I think this is probably a good shout. 2016 has been a year of Deliveroo, burgers, drinking and ad-hoc fitness and although I'm still in reasonable shape, I'm nowhere near my fitness heights of a few years ago. So this year I'm going to get myself in great shape, mainly for all the travelling and beaches that I'm going to visit! To start achieving my fitness heights, my goal this week is to setup my new MyZone MZ3 fitness monitor and start tracking my workouts to record my progress and set further fitness goals. Finally my motto for the year is to...Start focusing and improving on things that are great in life and forget those that are toxic and pointless.

I've recently posted the above poll on twitter and thanks to everyone who voted as it is always nice to know what the people who read my blogs want. Based on the results, things are not going to change too much, I'm going to concentrate on fashion/style/grooming primarily whilst bringing in more touches of travel and tech (although that wasn't in the poll)! Surprisingly 'More TV Appearances' was 2nd in the poll, which I'm not sure is serious but you never know what may be in the pipeline ;) 

Of course in true blogger style, here is the style piece shot at the Barbican, London. I've been dying to wear my new pair of Redchurch sneakers from Donhall & Bell and finally I have managed to style an outfit and show them off to you! Donhall & Bell are renowned for their incredible collection of luxurious slipper-shoes and they have recently designed and launched their new sneaker collection which incorporates many of their luxurious touches that their brand stands for. This pair are the Redchurch Black which retail at £190. What you get for that is a pair of expertly designed and crafted footwear made from 35% synthetic baby calf hair and 65% leather. The toe piece of the shoe is in burnished leather, the laces are waxed and the top lace hole features Donhall & Bell's signature 'D' ornament. The comfort of the trainer is soft enough to wear without socks thanks to the quality tan leather and padding used in the inner sole. I've then styled this outfit from a couple of pieces from Zara and Topman Jeans, all from their AW16 collections.

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Photography by Rebecca Spencer