Now is the time of year that people start thinking about making a new start, doing things differently, changing for the better. They start making Resolutions, or goals for the New Year. Most people start out their New Year’s Resolutions with great passion and intensity. The fire to accomplish their dreams burns brightly and intensely, forcing you to accomplish them quickly. However, most people’s flame also burns out just as quickly, and within a month, they have given up on those resolutions. This doesn’t have to be the case, however. You don’t have to give up on your resolutions, you can accomplish them if you really are willing to put in the work.
Make sure it’s specific
A lot of the time we fail in our resolutions because they aren’t specific. They are vague phrases like "I want to lose weight" or "I want to be a better person."
These aren’t bad goals, but they aren’t very specific. They don’t have a lot of meaning behind them. If you want to lose weight, great! How much weight do you want to lose? Do You want to be a better person? That’s terrific, but what do you mean? Do you want more patience? To be kinder? More of a listener? Less complaining? Don’t want to swear as much?
Figure out what you want, and specify what you mean by that.
Write them down
Write down your goals and put them somewhere you can see them every day. It'll help you keep on track if you can see what you are trying to accomplish.
Make it practical
Yes, goals are there to stretch you and make you a better person and help you gain what you want, but that doesn’t always mean the goals are practical.
You want to lose weight, great, but I wouldn’t say that wanting to lose thirty pounds a month, is practical. Or getting a better job or starting up your own company is great, but within a year don’t expect to be a CEO of a billion dollar corporation. (Granted that may happen, and in that case great, but it doesn’t usually work that way.)
Come up with a plan
A lot of the time resolutions fail is because they don’t have a plan. They want this to happen, but it’s almost as if they just want to say it and it’ll happen that way. It doesn’t. You have to work for what you want.
So after you’ve specified what you want, come up with a way to accomplish what you want. Make a timetable that will help you keep on track.
Schedule assessments
In your timetable, schedule in times that you can assess how you are doing and make adjustments as needed. If you are going faster than you thought you felt free to push yourself a little harder. If you aren’t doing as well as you thought you should, figure out why, and adjust the timing of things.
Treat Yourself
Find milestones in your plan. When you reach them, find a way to treat yourself.
Expect Set Backs
Set backs are natural. They are going to happen. Go in knowing this, and don’t let those setbacks get you down. Figure out a new way to get what you want, change the schedule, or whatever you have to do. Throw a small sympathy party if you need to, just as long as you end it quickly and get back on that horse.
Most of the time people give up on their resolutions because they hit a setback. Don’t let that happen to you.
Bring in others
Bring others into your plan. Let them know what you are doing. Ask them to keep you on track, or even ask them to help participate.
It’s a lot easier to keep on track of things with someone else, whether another person is going through the same thing and can help when you are weak and you can help when they are weak, or if it’s a person who will be randomly checking in on your progress, it helps having someone else there.
Keep on working on your goals. You can accomplish anything that you put your mind to. You CAN do it. Have some faith, patience, and perseverance and you can do anything that you want to do in this life.
