4 Step Guide To Achieve Your New Year's Resolution On Your Own Terms
It's the second week of January, which means that the majority of you out there have completely given up on your New Year's Resolutions, if you even bothered to set them.
Are you one of those who approach a new year with curious vigor wondering what you could accomplish and excitedly set new goals?
Or are you one of those who set a resolution because you have been putting something off for the entire prior year and you think that the turning of the clock will mean that you will finally follow through?
Here is the deal: there seems to be shifting opinions on resolutions but overall a wide spectrum of what people end up choosing to do with the new year.
Some people grasp onto resolutions every year because they think it's the source of their motivation while those who are "enlightened," "awake," or "woke" say that resolutions are bogus and that the best thing to do is to set intentions and put it out for the universe to guide them to the life change they want to make.
As you know, this blog is not here to tell you what is right or wrong, but to instead offer an idea of what is healthy. If you know me specifically, you know that my brand is based on every person's ability to choose the life they want for themselves.
Because of that, call it whatever you want: resolution, goal, intention, accomplishment, take your pick!
Once you choose, let's talk about how you can actually achieve it AND sustain it...
4 STEPS TO WIN 2020
FOCUS ON YOURSELF
I posted a video a while back about the difference between receiving pressure to change vs. the motivation to grow. New Year's Resolutions often come from an external pressure (family, friends, significant others, etc.) but coercion is very seldomly healthy.
What do you want FOR YOURSELF this year? Not for your loved one or coworker or cat. If it is a healthy element of your personal growth, it doesn't matter how weird it is or how you came up with it. I know a guy who resolved to drink one more glass of water per day for the whole year. That's it! It was a huge deal for him and he did it. Whatever the size, go for it.
To what change or growth have you felt selfishly drawn?
SLOW DOWN
Real talk: the reason why so many resolutions fail is because people get themselves so amped up for a week and then crash so hard because they cannot sustain the dramatically different lifestyle demand. Those people believe that the resolution must be achieved right away and then sustained for 365 days.
Who says? You have 365 days to achieve your goal. Then worry about sustaining it.
Take your time. Ease into it. A segment of your life will be changed no matter what, so give yourself a chance to adjust.
Keep in mind that your resolution may very well change throughout the year. It may start too easy or too hard, too intense or too boring, so chill out and try it on. Let yourself modify it as needed until you find the sweet spot of a goal on which you are excited to work.
SET SPECIFIC, START BROAD
When you set your resolution, make sure to make it specific so you know what you actually stand to gain, but start broad with the actual pursuit. In other words, zoom out to find your starting point once your first draft resolution is set. Once you slow down and take your time, your goal will be much more comfortably pursued and you will be much more well equipped.
For example, if your resolution is to write in a journal five days a week, you cannot just jump in and do it and sustain it - just like someone suddenly diving into a gym seven days a week to finally lose weight. You will fail. You will stop. You will hate journaling.
Instead, slow down and spend a week looking through stores at different kinds of journals, different sizes, different materials, different layouts. Then choose your favorite pen for journaling.
Spend some time researching a variety of ways that other people like to journal and then decide what kind of journaling you need (unstructured venting, outcome planning, a mixture of writing thoughts and drawing fantasies?)
What is the objective of the resolution for you? Once you define the objective, start broad and zoom in. With journaling, only once you have chosen the above elements as well as things like time of day, days of the week, and journaling duration can you actually sit down and write for the first time.
It may take weeks for you do this prep work, but I promise it will lower the barrier to the work so low that it will be much easier to sustain the new habit.
GET CURIOUS
Once you set your unique resolution and then slow on down to make it easier and enjoyable to achieve, what about the new habit will you be interested in learning more about as time goes on? What is the next level of it for you?
Clarification: This does not mean level of difficulty, though that will be the case for some of you, but rather the next level of how it can serve you.
Ask yourself instead what is something you would like to learn next about the new habit? If it's journaling, maybe play with the duration or your writing style. If it is nutrition and weight loss, what will you be interested in trying as the year goes on?
Setting your curiosity in advance will help you set new but still interesting goals before your first goal is achieved so that once it is achieved you are immediately engaged in the ongoing practice.
As a reminder, this four step process is completely focused on you and emphasizes the importance of slowing down. We can all only go out our own pace, so set your pace wisely. Resolutions and habits are about making a healthier you, after all, not a healthier someone else, so treat it like a gift you are giving yourself you are so excited to receive.
If you love this process but you do not know what resolution or goal to set, click below to set one together AND customize your own Implementation Strategy completely FREE:
