2008 is upon us and many of us don't want it to look anything like 2007. However, if the parents don't change then the appearance won't change, and we're going to give birth to some ugly twins! We're carrying forward the old goals from 2007 (which were carried forward from 2006, which were carried forward from 2005...) that we didn't finish (or even start for that matter) and we're adding new goals on top of those. Oftentimes, we don't know the 'why' behind our own goals and we just do them because they sound good and everybody is (saying that they are) doing them. Here are 5 reasons why most New Years resolutions fail, but keep in mind that the new year is a mind set, not a date set in mind. Hopefully you can avoid some of these pitfalls in your new year.1. They aren't realistic
Solutions:
- Limit your goals to 3 major ones by eliminating the one's that sound good to others but don't sound good to you.
- Estimate how many days, hours, or weeks it will truly take to complete and plan accordingly.
Solutions:
- Type it or write and then put it next to your mirror.
- Laminate it and put it on the shower wall.
- Record an audio version and put in on your iPod.
Solutions:
- Find a partner for each goal.
- Exchange resolutions with your most on-point friends.
- Schedule monthly dinners or phone calls with that group of friends to discuss progress.
Solutions:
- Instead of saying "I want to lose weight" say "I want to lose 20 lbs".
- For the tougher to measure goals, create a fun measurement that's correlative (ie If you want to be a better friend, count how many times you call your friends to check on them even when they haven't called you).
- Make it a game and keep score for yourself.
Solutions:
- Give each goal a realistic completion date other than Dec. 31st 2008.
- Differentiate between goals that are daily (ie drink water), weekly (ie exercise 3 times), monthly (ie save $200), quarterly, and annual.
- Put monthly checkpoints on your phone, online, or paper calendar.
Happy New Year!
So true Jullien! Thank you for being you. Happy New Year Brother!