A Foolproof Plan To Succeed With Your New Year’s Resolutions
Holidays can be stressful, yes? You’re making time for family gatherings, shopping, etc. For some people, just managing the holiday blues can be stressful enough without all the other commercial stuff.
And what do most people go and do? They make things even more stressful coming up with “resolutions” for the New Year because that’s what we’re supposed to do, right?
If we want to reach our goals, we’re supposed to identify what they are, figure out a plan for how we’re going to get there, and measure our results along the way to see how we’re doing. That’s Personal Development 101.
But let’s look into this a little deeper. I’d say the majority of people we work with make some sort of New Year’s resolution.
Of those who do, vast majorities are successful for that first week, but—unsurprising—by the end the month the numbers start to fall. By the end of six months the amount of successes are basically non-existent.
Studies have shown that from those who made a New Year’s resolution, only 8% of them are consistently successful with it.
The odds don’t look so great, true or true?
So you’re probably thinking, “Why the hell should I bother making New Year resolutions if there is a good chance I won’t succeed?”
Here’s why…
When it comes down to it, this is the difference between successful and unsuccessful people.
Successful people make decisions and stick to them and unsuccessful people don’t.
You’re either dead serious and 100% committed or you’re not. There is no in-between.
It’s really that simple.
Do I believe in resolutions? No not really. I don’t like them.
I like goals and I like intentions. I think resolutions are overrated but I love the idea behind them.
Look at an area you want improve or need to fix, make a commitment and do it.
But I think our society has lost sight of the process itself. It shouldn’t be ‘let’s just list everything you want to be different next year and change EVERYTHING’.
That’s the worst thing you can do. You won’t do everything so by listing everything and not doing it you’re now training yourself to NOT do what you said you would do.
That’s what unsuccessful people do. Remember we are creatures of habit.
You either have successful habits or unsuccessful habits.
We want you to build successful habits so here’s what I believe is your best chance to succeed.
First, only pick something that you’re SUPER serious and set on changing.
Something that you know deep down in your bones you want to make this thing happen.
This isn’t something that would be ‘nice to have’ or would be ‘great if it was different.’ No that’s a surefire way to fail.
Pick something that is a necessity for you to work on.
Once you have some ideas of what those necessities might be then I want you to pick only ONE resolution for now.
Why only one?
Well because the key here is to start small and create a win for yourself.
When you do this you create confidence, you create momentum and you move into more and more action.
If you have too many things going on there is a very good chance you won’t be able to do it all.
You’ll likely forget or get overwhelmed and you’ll slowly but surely start to fade away from what you wanted to achieve.
So make sure you stick to ONE resolution for now. Now when you start to engrain this resolution and it becomes part of your everyday life then and only then should you add a new resolution into your life to work on.
Fair? I hope you said yes.
And that’s it. Pretty simple, yes? It’s not anymore complicated than that.
Now for some good news!
Despite what sounds like bad odds of being successful with resolutions: People who make New Year’s resolutions are 10-times more likely to be successful at achieving their goals than those who don’t.
Duh, right?! You can’t be successful at something you haven’t defined yet.
So make sure you do something this year to improve your life and make it better than last year.
In summary, whatever resolution you make for the coming year, decide now how important it is to you, knowing deep down in your bones that fear, outdated habits or obstacles are not going to be enough to keep you from meeting your goals.
Don’t waste your time with things you aren’t SUPER serious about (for now).
And pick ONE resolution to start, no more!
I wish you nothing but the best of luck and good fortune in this upcoming year.
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