If you’ve been following me for some time, you should know by now that I have never been a fan of the concept of New Year Resolutions. I have always believed that the “new year, new me” concept was quite cheesy because it lacks vision and direction. It’s so easy for us to say what we want to do but if we aren’t visualizing it and being realistic about the steps that we are going to take to achieve it, what is the point? I prefer to set New Year’s goals and deliberately plan them out, so I can actually hold myself accountable for accomplishing the goal. It’s the same as trying to harvest fruit, the fruit won’t grow if all you do is plant the seed; you must nurture the soil and clear the area of weeds. Every year people set resolutions that most of time end up failing because they really aren’t teasing it apart. It is so easy to say that you are going to lose weight, eat healthier, make varsity, save money etc.; when you’re not accounting for everything that you need to do to achieve it. You’ve got to put energy into the right direction and rid yourself of habits that are going to prevent you from achieving your goal. We fail to achieve our resolutions because we aren’t accounting for the whole process it’s going to take to get there.
Below is an activity to help make your goals more achievable, so you can have the year that you are wishing for. This activity is also helpful for those previous resolutions or goals that you have set that you are having a hard time achieving, you may be missing something and need to reevaluate the route you’re taking. Take some time to write it down and really reflect and visualize as you set your intentions for this upcoming year.
- What are you trying to achieve? This can be how you would normally state your resolution but it will be more effective if you try to be as specific as possible.
- Why is this goal important to you? Why does it matter if you accomplish this goal? What happens if you don’t?
- What is something that can get in your way of achieving your goal? What is going to be your contingency plan if it comes up? Often, we fail to achieve our goals because we don’t know how to handle obstacles, this allows us to have a plan before the challenge even arises.
- What are 3-5 steps that you can take to achieve your goal?
Make these steps are SMART, this meaning
S-Specific: Detailed as possible
M-Measurable: Quantitative
A-Action focused: Focusing on what you will do vs what you won’t do
R- Realistic: This is individualized but must be realistic for you to accomplish
T- Time bound: This prevents procrastination, give yourself a deadline to achieve each step
- What are you going to tell yourself when you start to lose motivation or it’s getting harder than you expected?
The more you can accurately visualize what it’s going to take to achieve your goals the more successful you’re going to be. Repeat for each goal that you want to accomplish moving forward. Happy New Year, here’s to this being a year of growth for all of us.
A. B. mentality 