Make your goals last a year, rather than for a week!
The start of a New Year is a major catalyst that encourages many people to re-evaluate their lives and consider changing their lifestyle for the next 365 days. The most common resolutions are weight loss, exercise, debt reduction and quitting smoking. Having an overall better quality of life is something that everyone desires and hopes for, yet many people live below their highest potential. For the first two weeks after New Year’s, people are usually very productive and successful in keeping their resolutions. However, by February, many people begin to engage in their old habits, and by the following December, most people are back where they started. Why do so many people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions?
First of all, many people make unrealistic resolutions that they aren’t ready for or willing to maintain. Many feel pressured into creating a goal for themselves for the sake of following the New Year’s tradition, and do not take into the account the actual efforts these resolutions demand. Motivation is at an all time high when the New Year begins, but as soon as a person falls back into the same patterns and is no longer being encouraged, failure and self-defeat can make one feel worse off than when they started. Another reason for failed resolutions is presented in the cause-and-effect of this relationship. It is easy to create preconceived notions that reducing debt, losing weight or succeeding at any resolution will allow ones life to undergo a complete positive transformation. However, if goals are slowly being reached and one still finds their lives unsatisfying, it is easy to become discouraged and revert back to old behaviours.
Making resolutions work is essentially about changing the way you think and realizing that you don’t need to wait until a magical countdown at midnight to start improving your life. Every new day brings forth new opportunities for growth and improvement. One of my favourite quotes by Albert Einstein states that insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If you truly want to succeed at something, and start living at your highest potential, you must consciously work at it everyday. Choose to have resolutions everyday throughout the year, so that when New Year’s comes and goes your goals will remain attainable.
Here is some advice to help you succeed at your New Years Resolutions:
1. Don’t wait until New Year’s Eve to make resolutions. Make it a daily process. Start thinking differently.
2. Focus on one resolution, not several.
3. Set specific and realistic goals.
4. Take small steps. Patience is key.
5. Step back and appreciate your improvements throughout the whole progress, not just at the end goal.
6. Don’t take yourself so seriously, and you won’t be easily discouraged. Learn from your mistakes and slips and allow them to motivate you even more to continue to succeed at your goals.