Can you believe it? It’s that time of year again….you know, time to make New Year’s resolutions that will be broken by mid-week. We all have good intentions, but why is it so hard to follow through with our resolutions? Here is a tip that may help you actually make it this year.
What Doesn’t Work
The reason many of us fail is because the goals we set were not realistic. Think about it, you didn’t gain weight, start smoking, start more projects than you can finish, etc. in one day did you? Of course not, you probably picked up bad habits along your journey of life. You now live a lifestyle that produces the unwanted results. Therefore, you must change your lifestyle to produce the results that you wish for. For example, most diets are not successful. Diets tell your subconscious that this is only a temporary fix. And that is usually what it is… temporary. If you do lose weight, you probably gained it back using this method. To permanently lose weight, you must change your eating habits for life. I am not saying to give everything up, just determine what a healthy eating habit for you would look like and do it. Alright, enough about weight, because I have not got to that one yet, which leads to my next point.
This is what I think is even a bigger problem with New Year’s resolutions. Like I mentioned earlier, you did not get to where you are today in just one day. Therefore, you are not going to achieve your desired results in one day either. I know that we live in a multi-task society today and want instant results. However, it’s just not going to happen when it come to changing our life styles. So let’s work on one thing at a time….keep it simple. You may say, but I have a lot more New Year resolutions that one small thing! That good to have additional goals, but work on one at a time, then move to the next one once you have achieved the first goal. Seriously, it would be better to achieve one or two small goals, than to fail at all of them…..Right?
Make A List
One of the quickest ways to fail at your goals is by not ever making a list. So get a piece of paper and write 10 goals that you have for this year. If you don’t make all ten this year that is alright, you can readjust the next year. If you complete the first 10 in 4 months, then make 10 more goals.
If you can not think of any goals, I will list a few. However, these need to be your goals not mine. You’re going to have to want this to make it work.
1. Be in class (or work) on time and prepared everyday.
2. Go for a walk or run 3 days a week before school or work.
3. Set aside 1 hour for homework and studying every night. (turn all cell phones and other distractions off during this time)
4. Start preparing for a job and working on resume’ for when I graduate in May.
5. Lose 10 pounds by May.
6. Stop drinking pops and drink more water.
7. Raise my GPA at school or get a raise at work.
8. Stop worrying so much about every little thing.
9. Or perhaps I need to worry a little more to make good grades.
10. Start delegating more of the workload to my technicians so I can do my job better.
Or whatever is important to you. These are just a few examples to trigger your brain to think of New Year resolutions that you need to work on. Most of all remember that New Year resolutions can start anytime. You don’t have to wait for New Year’s to start the next one on your list.
Are you wondering what goals others have? Here is a list of the Top Ten New Year’s Resolution that I found online.
Does anyone else have any helpful tips for the new year? Let’s hear them……post them for us to read.
Dave Baltz says
January 1, 2011 at 12:43 amLook for opertunities to pay back by paying forward. Dave