New Year is not an event that happens in a day every January 1 but a year composed of 365 days or 8, 760 hours or 525,600 minutes. And it’s just not called New Year because it’s another new year but because it’s an opportunity for each and one of us to live life in a fresher perspective and to make the necessary changes we want. With that, people are busy making New Year’s resolutions but, as we all know, majority of these resolutions are forgotten by the 2nd day of January or, the most, by the end of the month. Why is this? Why is it that a lot of people are so good with making promises only to default on them?
There are 2 reasons why a lot of people fall short in their resolutions:
1) They don’t know the right way and principles behind making New Year’s resolutions and
2) they lack the discipline to implement these resolutions.
Outlined below is a summary of the steps I take year after year in making New Year’s resolutions and keeping them as well. These steps have helped me live a richer quality life and, year after year, I wound up becoming a better person. I believe these steps can help you become one too.
Step 1: Celebrate Wins.
In making your new resolutions, it’s vital that you first put yourself in a frame of mind that you’re capable of trusting yourself in making things happen. And the way to do that is by listing your successes and victories regardless of size and scale for the past year. By listing these successes and victories, you’ll realize that despite the challenges and failures you faced last year, you were able to achieve a degree of personal success and, inevitably, you’ll develop a greater confidence and trust towards yourself which are very vital in making the changes you want to make for the new year.
Step 2: List Life Lessons.
For the next step, answer this question:
“What 3 significant personal life lessons have I learned throughout the year?”
To move forward in life, it’s important that you take inventory of the lessons you’ve learned in life. By identifying these lessons, you’ll be able to position yourself to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again which are hindrances in making your annual goals a reality. Also, these life lessons will serve as a foundation in developing the goals you have set for the new year.
*Note: Write these life lessons.
Step 3: Have Reasonable Resolutions.
Now, it’s time for you to list the resolutions/goals/changes you want to happen for the new year. Ensure that these are SMART resolutions/goals/ changes:
S-Specific
M-Measurable
A-Attainable
R-Realistic
T-Time-bounded
A lot of people think that SMART goals are a cliché and let me tell you that these are the very people who are not getting ahead of life. If you’re really serious with making a positive change in your, set SMART goals. As a quote I once heard best said it, “If it isn’t smart, it’s stupid.” Make SMART goals.
Also, I would like to emphasize that every goals you set for yourself SHOULD HAVE VE A DEEP REASON behind it. The reason why a lot of people fail to achieve their goals is because they lack the reason to achieve these goals. As an example, a lot of people who want to lose weight fail in doing because they don’t have the right reasons for doing so or they set superficial reasons. While others succeed in losing weight (the natural way of doing it, of course!) because they have deeper reasons such as a healthier lifestyle for the people they love or developing self confidence and discipline.
Set goals with deep and meaningful reasons behind them. Because when the tough times come, you’d be motivated to persist and stick to your goals. If you can’t set goals with deep reasons behind, don’t list them in your new year’s resolution because you won’t do them anyway!
*Note: Write these goals.
Step 4: Have Plans Of Action.
Another reason why a lot of people fail to achieve their new year’s resolution is because they don’t have a step by step process of achieving them. Or a lot of people try to accomplish a big goal immediately only to disappoint themselves because it seems impossible. Back to our losing weight resolution example, a lot of people want to lose weight so they starve themselves for days or have crash diets and exercise like crazy. They expect to lose weight immediately only to disappoint themselves so they get back to their couch potato lifestyle.
One of the realities that you need to accept regarding your new year’s goals is the fact that achieving them takes time and effort. Once you understand that, you’re far better off compared to 90% of the population who fail in their new year goals because they’re unrealistic with their expectations towards their goals and themselves. Set plans of action on your goals by breaking them down into bite sized goals by month and, then, by days. By doing so, you won’t feel overwhelmed and will be doing the things you need to do to make the difference you want in your life. As the old saying goes, “The best way to eat an elephant is to eat it piece by piece.” Set your goals and plan each and one of them in detail, step by step. You can’t leave anything by chance.
*Note: Write your plans of action.
Step 5: Visualize.
According to psychology and other myriads of social sciences, visualization is a vital part for top performers and achievers in bringing out optimum results. In other words, these people first picture themselves achieving in their mind and, then, they achieve in reality. Everything in this world is created twice. First, by our minds and, then, by the actions we take. Your new year’s goals are not an exception! If you’re really serious with achieving these goals, picture in your mind’s eye that you’re achieving these goals. This visualization process is something you should take as a habit so you’ll be able to do what you need to do and be on the right track. I must warn you, though, a lot of people or you might think that this is a mumboo jumboo thing but if the field of psychology and other social sciences say that top performers use visualization, why shouldn’t you? Visualize achieving your goals.
Step 6: Make It Happen!
Steps 1 to 5 are a waste of time if you don’t anything to implement your plans. As the saying goes, “Plans are vital. But useless if not applied.” This is the time when theories are put into practice. One of the distinctive difference between achievers and non achievers is the fact that achievers apply their plans and make things happen. A lot of people fail in their new year’s goals because they just do Steps 1 to 5 and they even have the gall to be surprise why they’re not achieving the quality life they want. STUPID!
Listen, the only way you can make the difference in your life is by paying the price, by doing the work, by doing what needs to be done. 98% of those who write new year’s resolution fail on this step. Yes, there’ll be days you won’t feel like doing what you need to do but you got to do it anyway because there’s something more important than what you’ll be feeling by then. You need to develop discipline to do the things you need to do regardless of what you think or feel because of something more important. Discipline is the ability to subordinate your emotions in order to do what’s more important than your emotions. Discipline or the lack of it is the difference between mere dreamers and those people who make things happen.
I would like to stress, though, that there’ll be times where you’ll fall short in resolutions. Don’t be disappointed! Look at it as a learning experience and take corrective actions. If you won’t, you’ll have the feeling of guilt and you’ll lose track of what’s important. Don’t! Take responsibility of your actions and do what needs to be done so you’ll perform better next time. Learned mistakes are stepping stones towards progress. Mistakes made over and over again and not learned is stupidity.
Be discipline in doing the work towards achieving your goals and don’t be stupid.
It has taken me years to develop and apply these steps in my life and I’m living the quality life I want because of it. I believe these steps can help you in really living the life you want, one year at a time, one month at a time, one day at a time, one step at a time. Remember, a high quality life is not something that happens overnight but something you work on bit by bit.
God has given us this life so that we can become the best people He intends us to be. We do Him a disservice if we waste it on things that are not important and it’s our responsibility, while we’re still alive, to make the most of ourselves. By becoming the best person we can be, we’ll be able to serve not only ourselves but also others and God. So by the time we’re in our deathbeds, we won’t have any regrets on the way we lived our lives because we’ve treated each one of those years as new years, as an opportunity to renew ourselves and be the best person we can be.
Happy new year and, hopefully, a happier and better new you this new year!
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