Making a goal is easy but keeping it: that can be a whole other ball game. Every new year presents the opportunity to realign your goals and reset your intentions for the year ahead. Exciting? You bet your ass it is!
Here are 5 steps on how to make sure your resolutions stick:
1. Look back at the last 12 months.
The highlights? Maybe you got a better job. Or you got your butt to the gym and you now have J.Lo abs. Good for you!
Now turn your sights to the future: What areas of your life could do with some TLC? What aspects may be lacking focus?
Talk to friends, colleagues or your boss and see what they think.
For instance, you got a great new job, now you might have your sights set on a promotion. Why not ask your boss what areas you could improve to make the step up?
2. Have goals? Write them down!
A 1979 Harvard MBA study discovered that only 3% of the class had written down their ambitions for the future.
Ten years later, the students that had written their aims down were earning ten times as much as those who hadn’t. Why? Because writing your goals down gives clarity, focus and direction.
Once you’ve identified what you need to work on: WRITE IT DOWN. Then stick it on your fridge/wall/mirror or any place that you know that you’re going to see it everyday.
3. Break down your goals.
‘Success consists of a series of little daily victories’ – Laddie F. Hutar
There is nothing worse than making a crazy ass New Years resolution then running out of steam a month later. Doh! Keep it real girl.
I’m all for dreaming big but great achievements are the outcome of lots of little steps. Make smaller, manageable goals throughout the year and gradually track your progress.
4. Be flexible. Expect challenges.
‘Adversity is the partner to progress’ – John Maxwell
Goals are important but life is unpredictable.
Resolutions such as wanting a record deal, finding the perfect partner or landing that dream job, are not always in your control.
So focus on what you CAN do. Expecting challenges means you’re less likely to flake when shit get’s hard.
The following year is an unwritten chapter in your story, full of possibility and hope. Oh yeah, and joy, don’t forget joy!
Yazmin is a writer and runs aliljoy.com: a blog about love, life and finding joy in the everyday. @aliljoy
