Ahhhhh… New Years Resolutions. This is the time of year where everyone is compelled to think about what they want in life. We see it every year – especially in the fitness industry; people busting down the doors of the gym to urgently sign up, only to see the gyms return to ‘normal’ levels by the time February rolls round.
Many people set resolutions and many ‘don’t believe in them’. I can understand both sides. I agree that we should be thinking about our goals all year and certainly not just once a year. I believe that making New Years Resolutions can be over-rated and many people don’t make firm commitments to them – they just wish and dream.
Still, it’s my favourite time of year because I love taking the holiday time to reflect back on what I did / did not achieve in the previous year, and using what I’ve learned to help propel me to achieve my goals in the coming year.
No matter what school of thought you are from, I’d like to touch on a few points regarding resolutions.
The word ‘resolution’ comes from ‘resolving’ – you will ‘resolve’ to make some changes. It’s a decision you’re making. But not all decisions actually happen. In fact, nothing happens unless you change the behaviour attached to the result you want.
Merely wanting something is different to having a clear goal for the attainment of it and why so many resolutions fail. Just ‘cos you want something badly, doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to get it – simply by desiring it. People ‘give up’ making resolutions because they think that resolutions fail.
But in fact, resolutions 0nly fail if they are followed through on. It’s not the resolution that’s the problem – it’s the lack of commitment and follow through.
In most cases, for a true resolution to be successful, I believe it must follow some simple guidelines, as follows:
- Be written
- Be well thought out
- Be strongly desired
- Have a plan of action attached
- Be placed in a system of feedback/accountability – to yourself and/or others. We need to regularly ask ourselves – is it working? Why? Why not?
Otherwise, we are just dreaming!
If it matters to you, take the time to ponder your goals seriously, think about them specifically, write them all out and plan how you will go about getting them.
Many people say to me (words to this effect) “Last year I set a new years resolution to lose x amount of weight and I actually gained x amount. Resolutions don’t work”. When I ask them if they wrote out their goal and a plan to actually go about achieving it, I usually get a blank look. In fact, only 3% of people actually write their goals down. Most just keep them in their head.
Hey, if it’s worth pursuing, it’s worth investing a bit of your time in working out the execution of what you want. That will put you into the top 3% of people.
Why write down your resolutions and plan of action?
- To have a clearer sense of direction
- It will save you time and energy in the long term if you know exactly what you’re doing
- To clarify what you want and commit to it
- To give you some focus – it gets it out of your head and into physical form
- It helps keep you on track
- To gain more confidence
- It helps prevent you running around in circles and deviating from your desired result
A few good questions to ask yourself. Write them down…
Review of 2010
- What are the 5 things you are happy to have achieved in 2010?
- What have you wanted to do that you haven’t?
- What have you been putting up with in your life that you want to change?
Plans for 2011
- What are the 5 most important things you want to achieve in 2011?
- Why is it important for you to achieve these things?
- How will you stay accountable to these goals?
No matter who you are, no matter where you’ve been, what you’ve done in the past or where you are right now, YOU absolutely have the power to change. You can make a decision in a MOMENT that leads you on a path to a great future. We are always only one decision away from success – we can quickly go in a new direction, by how we choose to think and the next action we take.
Of course we can’t suddenly change everything all at once, but we can change our path of thoughts and where they are taking us, make plans so that our minds are filled with exciting goals and then start to dream again about the things that matter to us – and our actions and results will follow.
Don’t let the year 2011 be an unfocused, unproductive year. Take control of your life – decide what you want and go after it with everything you’ve got.
I look forward to hearing about the exciting changes you are making in your life!
To a wonderful, exciting year!
Kat
