New Year’s Eve is often seen as a time of renewal,
reflection, and planning ahead. While most people are excited to come up with
new resolutions, according to the American Psychological Association only about
1 in 5 people are actively sticking to their resolutions by March.
Clearly, setting resolutions is easy but sticking with them
for 52 weeks is a bit more challenging. Nonetheless, when we look at people who
have excelled in a variety of different fields, almost all of them have goals
and a system for achieving those goals. Trends show this is the case across the
board whether you’re setting an academic, personal, or professional goal.
So if you’re looking to be the best version of yourself in
2015, take a look at the tips below that help with both setting and achieving
your resolutions.
Be Specific
People who are specific about their New Year’s resolutions
are 10 times more likely to fulfil those resolutions than those who aren’t. So
for example, rather than having a resolution to “get a better job,” think in
terms of “I’ll get a job in ____ field, in ____ position, and making _____
salary.” Take it a step further by thinking about the logical actions it will
take to achieve the goal and write out plan for doing them. By doing this
you’re able to focus on the specific things that will take you closer to your
goal.
Be Realistic
Thought it’s always best to make resolutions that cause you
to stretch, commit, and at times sacrifice, understanding your current
priorities and life situation is an important step to fulfilling your
resolution. Keep in mind any obstacles that may be standing in your way and how
you’ll overcome them. Setting unrealistic goals can cause you to become
discouraged before you've even had the
Write Your Goal Down
Writing your resolution down should be your first step to
achieving it. This gets it out of your
mind and forces you to think through the goal and be clear about what it is
you’re trying to achieve. In 1979 Harvard conducted a study that asked
students, ““have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to
accomplish them?” Though many of the students had goals, only 3% had taken the
time to write them down. Ten years later when the students were interviewed for
a follow-up, the 3% who had written goals were earning, on average, ten times
as much as the other 97% of the class combined!
Set Milestones
You’ve heard many times throughout your life “the journey of
a thousand miles begins with the first step.” While that’s true, taking that
first step knowing that you still have 1,000 miles can be pretty daunting. The
odds of you completing the thousand-mile journey will be greatly increased if
you break the journey down into ten 100 mile journeys and take the time to
reflect and reward yourself at each milestone. Organize your resolutions into
smaller, more manageable goals that build toward a larger goal. So for example,
if your goal is to lose 25 pounds this year, you’re much more likely to succeed
if you set a goal to lose 2 pounds per month and reward yourself at the end of
each month when you’ve reached that goal.
Keep Track of Your
Progress
Keeping a record of the progress you’ve made towards your
resolution is one of the best ways to hold yourself accountable while also
keeping your resolution top of mind. There are many different web and mobile
apps that can help do this, but a notebook journal may work just as well.
By keeping records, you’ll be consistently working on your
goals and able to see the progress you’ve made, which is a huge motivator in
and of itself. Keeping records of your goals will also give you the opportunity
to reassess your goals and allows you to make adjustments for circumstances you
may not have thought of when first setting your resolution.
Best of luck on your journey through 2015! May this be your
best year ever!
