I’ve been hearing recently that very few people actually follow through on their New Year’s Resolutions. There are a couple of reasons why this is true. The first is that people make their resolutions, which is great, but they don’t make a plan to actually make them happen. This undoubtedly causes them to fail. It’s easy to give up when you don’t have a plan to get there. It becomes overwhelming.
This brings me to the second reason; most people have such huge aspirations that they become overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Again, they end up not doing anything. I have a great example of this. On New Year’s Day I went to the local Starbuck’s to get coffee. I overheard one of the barista’s say she was upset that she fell asleep early on New Year’ Eve because it was her last night ever to eat unhealthy and she didn’t take advantage of it! I felt so sorry for her because it was pretty obvious she would fail at never eating anything bad for herself again. She would likely end up eating something bad, then feel guilty about it, and then end up eating even more bad food then she would have in the first place! You get what I’m saying.
While most people have the best intentions of succeeding, the reality is that they need a plan to help them reach their goals. Here are a few tips that will help YOU succeed.
First, be realistic. If your goal is to eat healthy then map out a plan that will work for you. Cutting out ALL bad food likely won’t work. How about eating a salad for lunch 3 days a week, or researching tasty but healthy recipes that you will be motivated to eat. Set yourself up to succeed. If your expectations are too high, you are more likely to fail. You will feel overwhelmed and give up.
Second, breakdown your goal into manageable steps. What is the first step you can do to put you on track to achieving your goal? Then write down all subsequent steps needed. Be as specific as possible, so that you can be reasonable with the amount of time it will take to reach your goal.
Third, schedule in all of the steps. Get out your calendar and assign a date to each task. This will help you be accountable to what you have decided to do. You will also have a concrete plan AND that will help you reduce any stress.
Fourth, get support. If you’re going to the gym, go with a friend or sign-up for a class. For business, grab a mentor or a coach. I’m in the process of doing the same. We can always use a personal cheerleader holding us accountable and motivating us to be the best we can be 🙂