Here’s four useful suggestions to increase the probability that your New Year’s resolutions will stick this year.
1. Quantify it
Sometimes we are just too vague about what we want. Therefore, a resolution such as, “I want to lose weight this year” will probably fail. It is too vague. How much weight? Be specific.
2. Set a deadline
Resolutions that are to be achieved “as soon as possible” wind up in the heap of “Someday I’ll”. Deadlines are commitments. Without a deadline as a self-imposed pressure point, getting started is easily postponed.
3. Change one or two things at a time
We generally do not like change in the first place. We seek the familiar and avoid the strange. The more change you put yourself through, the higher the probability your campaign will collapse. Focus in on one or two of the more important resolutions you seek to accomplish this year.
4. Be realistic
There’s just something about the start of a new year that gets us all wound up for changes in our lives and sometimes extraordinary and unrealistic changes. We become much like the child in the candy store whose eyes are bigger than his stomach. Be realistic. You can only accomplish a certain amount of change within a period of time. Don’t saddle yourself with unrealistic resolutions that will only spell failure later on.
DUMB Goals?
Have you ever heard of this concept? We first heard about it from Brendon Burchard, best-selling author of the Motivation Manifesto. DUMB goals involve these things:
- Dream-driven
- Uplifting
- Method-friendly
- Behaviour-driven
Watch the video – he’s a great speaker. If the more traditional ways of setting goals aren’t working, try the DUMB method and shoot for the moon!
