The idea of making New Year’s Resolutions has become laughable in conversation for most people. As a Clinical Hypnotherapist, specializing in habits and mindset, I often facilitate workshops in the New Year about Goal Setting. I usually start by asking my students how many of them have made New Year’s resolutions that failed. Most hands go up. In fact, many people respond that they have stopped making New Year’s resolutions because they don’t work.
The reason that most resolutions are not successful is that people put a lot of thought into creating them but don’t put in a lot of effort towards following through with them. The most common resolutions are based on our failures. We tend to make goals about our weight, our bad habits, our addictions and/or our relationships. At New Year’s we get to wipe the slate clean and start the year with a fresh vision, strong goals and aspirations and a drive to do the impossible. Yet, every year, it seems that we consistently get excited about what could be different but take no real initiative to make the changes.
Our habits are continuously getting in the way of our goals. You can’t learn not to do something. When your intention is to learn to do something differently you must think about what you want and not what you want to stop. This is the mindset contradiction that so many people struggle with. The focus for the goal is often based on the thing they want to change instead of the result they are aiming to achieve.
So….what are the Do’s and Don’ts for successful New Year’s Resolutions?
DON’T make unrealistic goals. Many people abandon goals because they’re just too big. If you’ve done this to yourself, stop now. Change your game plan.
DO make goals that you can measure as you go. When you know you’re on the path to success you’ll keep going. If you discover you’re not on the success path these measureable check-in points allow you to recognize it and change it.
DON’T stay silent about your goals. Statistically the success rate in goal achievement declines significantly when a person has no one to be accountable to. Staying silent creates the perfect environment for excuses and self sabotage. It’s a perfect equation for failure.
DO tell your friends and family what your goals are. It’s one of the best ways to reach your goals. It can definitely be uncomfortable if you have a setback or an obstacle to deal with when your goals are public. However, when you stay the course and start experiencing success, your friends and family will be thrilled to support you and celebrate with you. In fact, many times, these same people will be wishing that they were you and were reaching those same goals too.
DON’T set a deadline. Instead of giving yourself a deadline to accomplish a specific goal choose to create a strategic to-do list. This will allow you to tackle the big goal one task at a time until you’ve reached your desired results.
DO set a schedule. Start with the date you want to have achieved your goal and work backwards. For example, if you have a one year goal – start there. Then, have a nine month goal, a six month goal, a three month goal, a one month goal and a goal for tomorrow that you can build upon so you can measure whether or not you’re on track for success. This schedule will be able to show you in real time what you’re doing well and what you’ll need to adjust if you’re going to be successful.
Set your New Year’s Goals with confidence and enjoy the satisfaction that comes along with knowing you can achieve any goal by learning new habits and new strategies. When you follow these Do’s and Don’ts you can most definitely eliminate your excuses and increase your results.
So…what will your life look like a year from now if you do everything that you said you were going to do on this years list of New Year’s Resolutions?
Want some help? Click HERE for a Goal Setting Checklist to get you started.