Accomplishing Your Dental Goals

For the new year, I’m choosing to look at my “resolutions” as tangible goals that I myself can reach on a day to day basis rather than some sort of pie in the sky achievement that most people wouldn’t be able to reach.

And I think that’s the smart way of handling such resolutions for new years. Too often people make their resolutions something so unachievable that they’re bound to fall flat on their face and never meet their goals. In fact, when some of my friends show me their resolution lists, all I see are 5 to 10 different goals that are too crowded, too time consuming, and require too much willpower to tackle realistically.

Instead, if they would just trim the list to three easily achievable goals that will also directly improve their lives, well, they’d be more motivated to knock out next year’s goals too.

For example, I’ll be focusing a lot on my dental health this year. It’s something I’ve continued to put off in years past, doing only the bare minimum to keep my teeth in okay condition. Well, I figured it’s about time I take responsibility for my health, and this was such an easy compromise to get the ball rolling for future resolutions.

I don’t plan on doing something unachievable like having perfect teeth by the end of the year. That’s unrealistic and would simply require thousands of dollars to actually complete. Instead, I plan to hold myself accountable for brushing my teeth twice a day, flossing once a day, and ensuring I visit the dentist at least twice this year to figure out what else I need to focus on.

Sure, those are things that everyone is recommended to do for their teeth. But guess what? I’ve never stuck to that regimen, yet it’s something that I could easily make myself do in order to get started on a better path for my teeth. And sometimes that’s all it takes: a little goal to reach in order to get up to speed on things.

From there, I know I can make loftier goals that may require more work, money, or willpower. And I want those goals eventually. But for now, it’s better to start small so that I can feel triumphant in accomplishing my resolutions. It’ll only get better from here, but patience is absolutely needed when it comes to goal achievement. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.