Did you make a New Year’s resolution?
Maybe you planned to get more fit, eat healthier, or master a foreign language? It's now that time of year when well-intentioned New Year's resolutions have either become part of your routine, or distant memories.
People tend to make resolutions at the beginning of the new year because it feels like a fresh start, a time when we feel that we can begin anew, in other words, a perfect time for a formal expression of our best intentions for the coming year. It makes a lot of sense. If resolutions are such a good thing, then why is it that less than 10% of people who make resolutions actually keep them?
The truth may be that we are just looking at them the wrong way.
Why Goals may be Healthier than Resolutions
A typical resolution, and one so common that it has become a cliche, is spending more time at the gym in the new year. Why does this positive resolution so often fall flat? Because it is not framed in a way that demonstrates the true aspiration of going to the gym. A goal such as: getting in better shape over the coming months, is much easier to incorporate because it directly addresses the benefit to the goal setter.
While goals direct your focus to where you'd like to be, resolutions often point to shortcomings or negative attributes that need to be changed. Goals help prompt you to meet your potential, while resolutions tend to point to places where you've fallen short. Resolutions also tend to be all or nothing, either you quickly achieve your resolutions, or they are given up entirely. Not so with goals. Because goals are more strategic and tend to be incremental and long-term, you can work toward them in a number of ways, always pushing forward, even when progress is slow. Goals can be smaller daily, weekly, or monthly tasks that move you toward larger scale achievement. Goals are more positive and aspirational and less negative and scolding.
Steps for empowering yourself to achieve your goals.
Visualize what your life will look and feel like when you have achieved your goals.
If learning a foreign language is your objective, then imagine yourself sitting in another country and speaking the language fluently. Imagine how you will feel when you have accomplished the goal. If your goal is to eat healthier, imagine how you will feel eating healthier food, imagine the added vitality and energy. Visualizing yourself achieving your goals, will help motivate you to take the actions necessary to achieve them.
Write your goals down
Get out a piece of paper and write your goals down. Post the note somewhere highly visible. This will serve as a daily reminder of what you’d like to attain. Being reminded on an ongoing basis will motivate you to work towards your goals. Writing your goals down also helps you clarify them. Finally, having a concrete record of your goal will enable you to celebrate your progress toward the goal and eventually, your successes.
Tell a friend.
Talk about your goals with people you trust who will encourage and support you.
Having someone to check in with will help you see your progress. Accountability will also help keep you motivated to move forward. Even better than telling a friend, is working with a friend who has a similar goal If, for example, you have a friend with a similar fitness goal, becoming gym buddies will help keep you both on track!
Don’t Wait- Get started now!
Jump in and start moving in the direction of what you’d like to accomplish now! Why wait another day. Research shows that it takes about 21 days to to establish a new routine, get started today and you will be one step closer to your target!
Please feel free to reach out to me if you’d like help with your setting achievable goals. I am available to young professionals and emerging adults who are ready to overcome their challenges on a quest to transform their lives! My website it full of blog entries and useful content to help you along your way, and I hope you find this free content useful on your journey. Feel free to reach out to me directly if have any questions or if you are interested in scheduling a private session.
Sincerely,
Dr. Eileen Wynne