Navigating New Year Resolutions so they actually get ticked off.
At the end of every year, we celebrate the New one Coming in. A vast majority of us will create New Year Resolutions or goals we desire to complete over the next year. More often than not we get halfway through the year and forget about our resolutions. Life takes over and we come up with many different reasons as to why our goals did not play out, or work out. For some of us, some years we achieve our goals, and some years we don’t. For others, we plan, we achieve, we evaluate and we go again. No matter what kind of person you are, there is benefit in understanding the effectiveness of a well thought out process to setting your goals. That is something you will learn in the following words….
The Beginning, The Mindset, The YOU of it.
Firstly, the idea that we can do better next year, next week or let’s start on Monday is something I want you to start removing from your mindset. It’s a very future projected mindset, and it stops you from acting in the here and now. It also intensifies the idea of anxiety, and with anxiety, we are continuously projecting ourselves into the past and the future, never just being in the moment. So for 2022 I want you to start now, start today. There is no better time than the present.
Next, I want to present the idea to you that resolutions and goals, much like habits, actions and feelings are PART OF YOU. Your Resolutions are an extension of who you plan to become in the coming year. So a good place to start thinking of creating these to last and succeed at achieving them, is with yourself. Think about a few values in your life that you believe to be important. These can be literally anything. For example, mine are; adventure/exploration, success, growth, enjoyment, integrity and loyalty. Take a moment here to think about who your best self is, what do they do, how do they feel, what values do they have. Write them down.
I promise this isn’t fluffy, this is hard hitting the core of your being. Because if you are going to rock into 2022 and make not only 2022, but every year after that count, you will have to figure out what is going on in the core of YOU.
The Goals, The Planning, The Why.
Moving on, now that you have a beginning of an altered mindset that resolutions and goals are really just reflections of your best self, and you have a better understanding of your own values for life, let’s get into the goals. To set a goal, you want to break it down. So write the ultimate goal first, like ‘This year I want to run a marathon in May.’ So cool, that’s more than likely something many people have had as a goal in their life at some point. But what does this goal look like, feel like, and what are the actions to achieve this goal. Write down the goal/the resolution.
Once you have your goal, and the feeling of it, what it looks like and feels like and the actions it takes to get there. Write down, what you have to do every week to achieve this goal. No one got anywhere without consistency, its about showing up every day, every week, planning and scheduling the time to achieve. If you find it hard to commit or you have a lack of time, attach this act to something you already do. For example if you get home every day, sit on the couch and go on your phone, use the phone as a reward, get home, maybe have something to eat and drink, get your running gear on and go for a run. If we use the marathon as an example, the phone can be the reward after the run. Or Try waking up 30 minutes earlier, heading out for that run and having a coffee after as a reward. To attach habits to something, try this. For example my goal is to read 50 books this year. What is something you do daily? Eat breakfast, have coffee, brush your teeth. Use these to attach reading to. Like read x amount of pages when I have breakfast or coffee or after I brush my teeth. This way you are planning to achieve, not waiting to fail.
This is where you are probably thinking, yep and what didn’t I know before, all seems pretty logical. Or if you’re going yay an idea of how to get my goals then yes, go you. Go all of you!
Anyway, next we have to evaluate who is going to help you achieve these goals, because we cannot literally do everything on our own. Write a list of a few people you know that will need to be on board if you are going to make these resolutions happen. Might be someone to watch your kids, your friends to keep you accountable, your mum or your dad to take you somewhere to help. But don’t forget yourself, YOU are the KEY to your SUCCESS.
Now don’t laugh or quit out of this when you read slightly further, it is an important part and something that doesn’t make you soft, it makes you stronger. YOUR VALUES. Think back to those, if your goals do not align with any one of your values you may find it difficult to complete them, because we are drawn to our core beliefs and values. So make sure there is an aspect of your goals, and your weekly plan to achieve those goals, that ties into your values. That way you’re not just motivated because that’s temporary. YOU ARE DRIVEN, drive lasts forever.
BEST PART, REWARD.
Lastly, but never finally I can’t give away all the secrets….
Reward yourself, just like a kid (which we all have in ourselves) you must be reward for achieving your goals. Figure out an effective way to reward yourself every week, for achieving your weekly planned goals. This can be dinner out, chocolate, new clothes, Netflix, whatever you find rewarding. But do not forget to reward yourself, it will help keep the habit, and whilst you’re enjoying your reward take a moment to reflect on how you are tracking, what is working, what isn’t what can you do better and what you are proud of.
There is so much more we could cover, but I trust you would have gained something out of this. Go ahead and make 2022 yours, make yourself the best version of you. Get those goals, be happy, live well, achieve all that you can and make sure you are consistently taking small steps to the bigger goal, the better you and the ultimate life.
See you all in 2022.
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