Making the Most of the New Year: Implementing New Goals Rather than New Resolutions
Have you ever made a new year’s resolution? Probably. Have you ever failed keeping a news year’s resolution? I certainly know I have. The sad truth is, if you are anything like most people, and you have made some type of new year’s resolution, then you have probably failed at keeping it in some way or another. The statistics about New Year’s resolutions are pretty dire. In fact, according to an article entitled “This Year, Don’t Set New Year’s Resolutions” on forbes.com, only about 8% of people actually successfully complete their resolutions, and the majority of people don’t even make it beyond the first month. That is a lot of broken resolutions, and a lot of broken dreams.
I can certainly count myself among those who have begun the new year with bold and exciting plans, only to be discouraged and disappointed in myself. I love new beginnings, and a new year inspires my excitement and anticipation. Before I know it, I’m so full of big dreams and grand plans to change for the better, that is hard to narrow things down to just a few manageable resolutions.
Goals Vs. Resolutions: What’s the difference?
But if our resolutions for a better and brighter new year are doomed from the start, then wouldn’t we just be better to give up before we begin, and save ourselves the trouble? The answer is two-fold. Yes, and absolutely not! If your dreams are worthwhile, in that they will help you and/or others to become better people, then of course you should not give up on them. But maybe you should actually give up on your resolutions. If as the research suggests, most resolutions don’t last, and thus don’t help people get closer to their goals, then maybe they are not the right way to go about trying to achieve our goals. We know that their are hundreds and thousands of people who accomplish spectacular achievements, and who enact positive changes in their lives, so we know it is possible. If we haven’t had great success in the areas we want to change or the goals we want to achieve, then maybe we just need a smarter approach.
There are lots of techniques that can help people make progress toward their goals, and it can be confusing and overwhelming. If you keep it simple though, and remain focussed on these few, rather than letting yourself get distracted by an overwhelming amount of good ideas, it can make a world of difference.
Determine whether your dreams/ plans for change align with your most deeply held values.
If you are going to spend valuable time striving toward a goal, you will want it to be something that will be meaningingful toward you and your values. It can be easy to pursue a goal that seems good, and might be good for other people, but that don’t actually alighn with the way you want to live your life as a whole. If you don’t yet know what values are most important to you, take some time to deeply reflect on this. After all you don’t want to go your whole life without any sense of direction.
Set goals rather than resolutions.
Resolutions tend to be vague, but goals are clearly defined so that you will know for sure whether you have completed them. For example a resolution might be to live a more active lifestyle, whereas a goal might be to establish the habit to excercise for thirty minutes three times a week.
Differentiate between goals with a concrete end, and goals to establish a new habit. Choose only the most important from each category and just focus on these.
A goal with a concrete end might be to finish a certain project by a certain date, whereas establishing a habit, might mean that you will establish a habit of daily prayer by a certian date.
Stretch yourself, but also be reasonable.
If you choose goals that are too easy, you will not really be challegned to your full ability. On the other hand, if you set unrealistic expectations for yourself, there is a good chance you will simply become overwhelmed and quit altogether.
Have a plan to measure your goals and set deadlines.
Just as resolutions can be too vagure, if you don’t have any way to measure progress toward your goals, you will easily get distracted. If you break you goal into measurable parts, and set reasonable deadlines throughout the year to complete these smaller parts, you will most likely continue to have more motivation througout the entire year.
Have a reliability partner.
Having a reliablilty partner means having a trusted friend to whom you regularly report. This friend will help keep you accountable as well as offer encouragement. While you do have to do the work yourself, you don’t have to entirely go it alone.
Conclusion:
I hope you enjoyed reading “Making the Most of the New Year: Implementing New Goals Rather than New Resolutions”. I hope the ideas in this article help you on your quest toward a new and better year full of new habits and changes that help you become your best self.
Citations:
Forbes.com, Forbes. “This Year, Don’t Set New Year’s Resolutions”. Created December 31, 2018.
