I’m not a huge fan of New Year resolutions, for reasons I’ll explain shortly, but if you do insist on making them, please make sure you get these 3 things right…
I’ve written before that any other day of the year is better than January 1st to make resolutions, because New Year resolutions have a particular default setting which sets you up for failure, and it’s this – people never believe they will see them through!
People joke that they “set resolutions every year and then give up” – well, what kind of message does that send to the brain about how real the goal is? If you set a goal finding it funny that you will fail, then it should hardly be a surprise when you fail!
That’s the first thing you have to get right if you do make a New Year Resolution – make sure you mean it! If you don’t mean it, don’t bother, because you will in fact be harming yourself when you actually *do* want to set a genuine goal.
So, if you do really want it to be proper goal, and you believe it, you have to define it – that’s the second point.
You can’t have a goal of ‘being happy’ or ‘having more money’ or ‘being thinner’. Your goal has to have a much sharper focus – for example, how much more money, and what will you do to get it, or what is your target weight compared to your current weight.
It may sound obvious that a goal without a defined target is hard to reach, but this one point is a major cause of not achieving goals – they simple aren’t defined well enough.
The last point you have to get right when making resolutions for the new year, is to do with action. Too often, people centre their resolutions around what they will stop doing – I will stop eating cakes, I will stop smoking, I will stop shouting, etc.
A goal plan has to be action orientated, but based on positive action, not negative action. Do not focus on what you will stop doing, focus on what you will *start* doing instead! This is a mental shift which will give you real drive and impetus on taking progressive action.
I do still believe that the whole concept of New Year resolutions is fraught with problems, but since people insist on making them, hopefully these 3 points will help steer you along the path of actual goal achievement rather than just wishful thinking.
Oh, and if you’re reading this after New Year has passed, remember that not only can you set resolutions at any time, I recommend it!
By the way, if you’d like to discover more, why not grab my free 8 step goal achievement formula!
‘Til Next Time,
Wishing you health & happiness (whatever the year!)
Gordon
