Keep It Simple – Setting Your New Year's Resolutions
Posted on December 29, 2014
The Holiday Season, along with the end of the year, brings family gatherings, parties, gift buying, decorating and for many, exhaustion! There is rarely time for reflection, until it is time to make my New Year’s Resolution. If you are like me, at the end of the year I take some time to write a list of New Year’s Resolutions which I look forward to with a great deal of enthusiasm. As I make my way through the list it reminds me of my list from last year! For example, lose 10 pounds, go through my clothes and donate everything that hasn’t been worn in the past year, workout more, eat healthier … you know, the usual stuff.
If you have trouble sticking with your New Year’s Resolution you are not alone. According to Forbes Magazine, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s Resolution! Over the next five days I will share tips on how you can stick with your resolutions this year too.
One of the main reasons so many of us fail to keep our New Year’s Resolution(s) is because we make a list a mile long; resembling an ancient scroll … Sometimes we make the list more like a life goals list that we seem to think we can accomplish is just one year … Or we try and attempt an extreme makeover either personally, professionally or both!
Although your list may be inspirational, for the average person it is simply not doable with all of the competing priorities in our lives. The list is doomed to failure before we have even gotten started! I think Norman Vincent Peale is to blame. He is the author of the saying “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Basically, “shooting for the moon” leaves us far short of landing among the stars. Psychologically, shooting for the moon is daunting. We end up failing to take off in the first place.
This year, keep your resolution list short and action based. According to Chris Berdik, author of Mind Over Matter, laundry lists make it easier to abandon our resolutions. He recommends setting small and attainable goals throughout the duration of the year, as opposed to a single overwhelming goal. Once you achieve a small goal, you will be ready and motivated to move on to the next! It is difficult to say you can’t do it or to give up once you have achieved success, regardless of how small that success may be. So, instead of going through all of your clothes, choose a section of the closet, or a drawer at a time. It won’t feel overwhelming and ultimately you will achieve the goal of going through clothes that you don’t use anymore and donating them will make you feel good.
Take some time off from vacumning up pet hair to take my quick weekly quiz and claim your reward. Act now before they are all gone!
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