New Year’s is the perennial renewal of hope that this coming year will be better than last. It’s the celebration of the end of last year (no matter how good or how bad) and the anticipation of looking forward to the new year.
It has become our collective belief that with this fresh start our good fortune will increase by making resolutions to change for the better. And, according to those who seem to be successful with their resolutions, writing down your goals for what you want to change and accomplish in the New Year is the way to go.
Was your e-mail box filled with messages touting the value of setting out a goal list for the New Year and reminding you that only 3% of the population commits their goals to paper in pursuit of their dreams? I thought so.
I’m also pretty sure that you were one of the 3% that did write a goal list last year. But, it’s just a guess on my part mind you, that despite doing so you are at the same place you were last year at this time.
There was no question at the time you were resolute about improving your life and that you proceeded with good intentions. However even though it is 365 days later and you can’t find that goal list, you can honestly say you did go to the gym (not as often as you would have liked, after all life got in the way) and you did lose a few pounds (until life got crazy again).
You may even find yourself trying to understand your failure by asking yourself was my goal …
- too big
- too vague
- not relevant to my actual needs
- not in alignment with who I am
- not written in the S.M.A.R.T goal format
Did I not ….
- take persistent and consistent action
- create a schedule and a means to track my success
- stay focused and removed all those time wasting distractions
- break my goal down into smaller achievable steps
- motivate myself to really make a commitment to change my life
I’m here to tell you stop agonizing. It’s not your fault!!!
The real reason why you have trouble making your goal dreams
come true is that you didn’t let your brain know
that you were making any changes.
Tomorrow, I’ll tell you why you need to let your brain know you’re making changes.
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I found your blog through the Ultimate Blog Challenge link on Facebook – think it’s all working the way it’s supposed to- I look forward to reading more of your entries!
One thing I learned the other day about resolutions and goals is that the concept of a million is harder to understand than the concept of enough and that we need tangible pictures or movies to make things real for our brain. I struggle to lose weight because my brain sees me now not at my ideal weight.
Brains are cool but – great blog. Thanks
Writing down goals certainly makes them work better. I suspect it not only makes them more ‘real’ to us (rather than some flight of fancy we soon forget we thought of) but it also helps us by reminding us when we see it. Do you suppose it is a sort of personal motivation? I think so.
Looking forward to reading your next post on the subject!
Yes yes and yes LOL I agree and tend to tel people that a resolution or intention is a very different animal from a wish or a hope the first one has structure and you know it is doable, you set a time limit and smaller goals and outcomes as steps between here and there.
I like to also spend a couple of minutes a day focusing on it what it will feel like and look like and sound like when I get there, just to make sure each day to remind my whole self of what I want and where I am going …and to be sure I still want it!