With all the craziness of New Year’s Eve finally over with, it is time to stop thinking about the year that was and start looking ahead to the year that will be. 2010 is a new chance for you to explore your authentic self further, achieve greater success, and live uncommonly.
One of the surest ways to reach even greater heights in this new year is to take the time to set your resolutions (aka goals) and write them down. For more information on goal setting, read this.
However, when it comes to resolutions, making them is the easy part. Over the years what I have observed to be the greater challenge (both with others and myself) is keeping them.
So to help you start the new year off right, I am going to share with you the fool-proof way to achieve all of your resolutions by the end of the year. Ready to really start changing your life right now?
When people make resolutions, they are all fired up on New Year’s Day – ready to conquer the world, reach their dreams, and transform their existence into their ideal image. This fire continues through the first week mostly, however by the end of the month life has settle back into its routine and all the lofty goals that are set fall by the wayside.
This lack of follow through is not due to a lack of desire by any means – I believe that when people set goals they mean to achieve them – but instead due to a lack of strategy.
Setting a goal without a strategy to achieve it is just like wishing on a star: incredibly hopeful but absolutely ineffective. The most common result from this lack of strategy is that people go all guns blazing into the first few weeks of the new year toward achieving their goal and then burn out.
Here is an example from my own life that I’m sure many of you can relate to: for years I made resolutions to lose weight and get into shape. So in the first weeks of the new year, I would go to the gym every day and work out for hours and reduce my caloric intake drastically. In the beginning it would be easy, and I would feel proud and self-righteous, however after a few weeks with this unsustainable lifestyle I would burn out, lose interest, feel overwhelmed, and eventually forsake the gym for McDonald’s.
How many of you have similar stories to this? Weight is an easy example, but people do this with many things, like being more fiscally conservative, achieving more at work, working on developing that hobby into an Uncommon Vocation, or even just spending more time with the kids. In the beginning it’s 110% involvement, and by Valentine’s day most people are at around 2%.
So here’s the great secret to achieving any resolution: create a slow but steady strategy.
When it comes to reaching your resolutions, it works much better to be a tortoise than a hare. The key is to take small steps on a daily or weekly basis that build on one another gradually over time, not to use up all your fuel in an intense blaze of glory that can’t last.
Returning to my example of weight loss, I did finally keep that resolution using the slow and steady strategy. Instead of pulling 1000 calories out of my diet at once, I endeavored to cut back by around 200 calories each day for a week. Then the next week, after my body was used to less fuel, I added in some moderate exercise every other day. The following week I reduced by another 100 calories a day and continued with the exercise. This pattern of adding exercise and reducing caloric intake in an alternating manner persisted until I reached an exercise level and calorie intake level that was not only effective in reducing weight but also felt comfortable and sustainable.
Slow and steady wins the race – or in this case achieve the goal.
The human mind is resistant to immediate and drastic change. Habits and lifestyles can’t be overcome in such a dramatic way, however they can be overcome with persistent and constant small adjustments. To learn more about the slow and steady method of achieving goals, read this.
I know that you can achieve all your resolutions this year. You just need to set up an actionable and realistic strategy that allows you to make easy to maintain changes in slow and steady way.
What resolutions are you working to keep this year? I’d be happy to brainstorm slow and steady achievement strategies with anyone interested in sharing!
Here’s to your Uncommon Life,
