It is that time of year again, when we think about our New Years Resolutions. (Where did 2013 go!)
Anyone can come up with a bunch of new years resolutions, but how many resolutions last past February? The reason for this is because most people make empty commitments to achieve goals that they aren’t fully engaged with; and they set the goal it in a manner that is guaranteed not to work.
So, how do I recommend developing new year resolutions?
The first thing I like to do, is divide a blank sheet into four with a line down the middle and a line across the centre and label the quarters:
- Personal goals
- Relationship goals
- Work goals
- Community goals
Personal goals are just that; personal. These might be health-related, such as a fitness goal, or it could be a goal about reading more books, watching less television, learning a new language and so on.
In the quadrant labelled relationship goals, I recommend listing all goals to do with personal relationships, family relationships, relationships with friends or colleagues and so forth.
In the work goals is quadrant I would list career development goals and anything that I wanted to achieve in my coming year at work.
The fourth quadrant I call community goals. I think it’s important for all of us to give back to the community in some way. Even if you don’t intend to do any voluntary work this year, at least if you have listed down some goals in this quadrant you can tackle at another time.
Using the quadrants
In each quadrant, jot down a list of things you would like to achieve and then try and put them in chronological order. One or two items in each quadrant will stand out to you.
These are the objectives of your New Year’s resolutions.
Now you need to examine your objectives and commit to specific activities that will lead you to achieving them. For example; if your objective is to lose weight, you need to be more specific, such as lose 14 kg. Then you should come up with a series of resolutions that will help you to reach this objective – these may include things like, ‘not buying anything from McDonald’s in 2014’ or ‘not drinking any Coca-Cola in 2014’, walking 10,000 steps every day of the year, etc.
Let’s have a good one
The first day of the new year is an exciting time for all of us. It’s a chance to start again, a chance to change your life for the better. Let’s make great New Year’s resolutions that we can stick with.
If you get stuck or if you find that you aren’t able to stick to your new years resolutions and you think you need a little help, why not try my personal coaching offer.