Making and Keeping New Year's Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions – does anybody keep them anymore?

The answer is “yes” if you know how to formulate them properly.  We all know people (maybe even you) who find that their ardently planned resolutions were dropped somewhere along the wayside right beside the motivation and enthusiasm that it took to create them.  So what is the secret to making resolutions and, more importantly, how do we keep them?

1.) Make sure that there is a true desire to change. Many people make resolutions based on the expectations of other people.  If you do not have a true desire to reach your goal, you most assuredly will not.

2.) Lay out your objectives with specificity. Many people make the mistake of stating their goals in very broad terms. Two very popular New Year’s resolutions are:  I want to quit smoking or, I want to lose weight.  These statements are not specific enough. Your subconscious mind plays a big role when it comes to reaching goals in life.  Taking that fact into consideration, say you are successful at losing one pound or one ounce. Your subconscious will perceive your goal of weight loss as having been reached and will stop helping you.  After all, you did lose weight.  To use your subconscious in the most effective manner, word your resolution statements in terms of measurable outcomes.  Consider these revised resolutions:  I am reducing my smoking and will smoke half as much by Valentine’s Day, or, I am making choices that result in a twenty pound weight loss by July of this year.

3.) Make your resolutions present tense. Keep in mind when making resolutions that the subconscious part of your brain operates in the present tense. Formulating your objectives in this manner will be much more powerful.  Here are some examples of effective resolutions: I am becoming healthier each day as I choose nutritious foods to eat, or, every day I am getting closer to becoming a non-smoker.  These types of statements are more readily accepted by your subconscious mind.

4.) Write your resolutions down. Experts agree that you increase the likelihood of reaching your goals significantly by just simply writing them down.  When you write your goals down, you develop a more visible target on which to focus and concentrate.  Your goals become clear objectives.

5.) Formulate smaller sub-goals.  The reason that many New Year’s resolution and other goals go unfulfilled is because they are too daunting.  That’s why breaking your goals down into smaller, more achievable chunks is a good idea.  If your goal is to lose twenty pounds then some smaller sub-goals would include things like, substituting fruit for sweets, eating raw vegetables for snacks during the day or setting a goal to walk for 30 minutes a day.  These are small yet very do-able actions that will lead to the greater goal of losing the amount of weight you want to lose.

Looking at resolutions in a new way and with new resolve involves having the right tools to implement a plan to achieve the results you desire. Let this be the year that you keep your New Year’s resolutions. 

Original Articles. Constant-Content.

Do You Know Where You are Going in LIfe?

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Would you be surprised to find out that most people do not set goals?  Except for giving brief attention to a failure-prone New Year's resolution list, most people don't give a second thought to what they want to accomplish this year, this month, or today.

Setting Yearly Goals

Having a target for the year sets your trajectory.  It points you in some general direction.  Let's say, for example, you decide you want to write a book this year.  This is a goal.  You have set an intention for the year.  Enter monthly goals.........

Setting Monthly Goals

Now that you have your yearly goal, you will need to set smaller monthly goals in order to accomplish your large one.  In the monthly breakdown of the book writing in the above example, you would set smaller achievements up month by month.  For example, you could intend to write one or two chapters a month.  Enter weekly and daily goals.............

Weekly and Daily Goals

This is where the work gets done.  In order to accomplish the monthly goals, your large project must be broken down further into smaller pockets of work.  For example, you would set aside a certain amount of time to write every day; or, you might schedule a weekly meeting with an editor or a writing coach to keep you on track.  You get the idea.

Any job, project, or undertaking can be accomplished when you break it down into smaller units.  Remember that big dreams are achieved ultimately through very small courses of action.