Getting Resolutions Out of the Way

Have you started on your New Year’s Resolutions for 2008 yet? I hope you haven’t. I say that because resolutions don’t work. You heard that right. They simply do not work. It’s said that over 90% of New Year’s Resolutions are broken or given up on now – they turn to dust. Why is that? It’s because there is no plan to achieve them. You can’t just write them down and put them under the plastic mat on your desk or tape them in your planner, wallet or on your mirror or car dashboard and wait for them to come true by staring at them or reading them every once in a while. Putting them in an electronic calendar like Outlook doesn’t work either. Even if you use reminders! Granted, writing them down is a great start because your subconscious mind goes to work on trying to make them happen. But, what works even better and in any economic climate is when you have a strong plan behind them that includes setting them, working on them, tracking them and ultimately, achieving them.

In this article I am going to teach you how to do just that: Set, work on, track, and accomplish whatever goals (notice I didn’t say resolutions) that you would like to accomplish this year. It’s really a simple process once you try it. Are you ready?

The first thing I want you to do is take some time to write a list of everything you’d like to Be, Have or Change in your life. Really take some time to do this because it’s well worth it. Go crazy and wave your magic wand. Write down anything and everything. Write short term and long term goals. Set aside some time in your calendar to do this and spend some quality alone time with this exercise. You can do another one later with your spouse and even children but start with your own first.

When you’re done you’ll have in front of you a Goal List that represents the direction you want your life to go. From that list pick the most important thing you’d like to accomplish first – the most important one to you right now.
• Then, write down your goal like this: “My goal is to ________Goal___________ by _____Date_____. If you don't date the goal, your mind won't know when you want to achieve it. This is a very important part and many people don't do it and it stops their progress.
• Next, identify what’s standing between you and your goal. This is the obstacle. Let’s use an example. If your goal is to lose 10 pounds in the next 30 days, a valid obstacle to your goal could be your love of desserts.
• Now, figure out a good action step to overcome the obstacle of loving desserts. For example, to overcome your love of desserts, the action step could be to stop having desserts every night and only have them 3-4 times a week. Each week going forward from there, cut the days you have desserts by 1 until you get down to not having them at all or just once in a while. It's doable because you're not quitting cold turkey. (By the way this same process can be used for cutting down anything you don't want more of in your life.) Do this with each obstacle you come up with.

Most people set goals and then try to go to work on the goal itself. That's why most goal setting programs don't work. With this goal setting process you learn how to focus on what's standing between you and your goal and then begin working on that. When you do that you get closer to achieving the goal. This makes the action steps always more important than the goal itself. With this process, you're breaking the goal into manageable steps. “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” This process teaches you how to accomplish your goals one step at a time. Most people set goals and then break the goals down to achievable steps. While that’s a popular process that’s taught a lot, it doesn’t work because you still have obstacles that stand between you and the goal. You can break a goal down to the smallest step that may take only a short amount of time to accomplish but you still have obstacles that are there. Until you remove the obstacles the goal is harder to accomplish.

When you overcome the obstacles between you and your goals, there’s no need to break the goal into smaller pieces. The only reason that concept is taught is because it supposedly makes the goal more palatable. In reality, if you work on the obstacles instead of the goal itself, there’s no need to break down the goal to make it more palatable because the obstacle was the reason that the goal had to be broken down. In hindsight, you can say “What are you afraid of that’s standing between you and your goal.” Then come up with action steps to work on what you’re afraid of. Once the fear is removed, the goal becomes simple. Are you beginning to see how the process works?

The other very important piece of this equation is the WHY. Why do you want to accomplish this goal? When you focus on the reason and not what you have to do, the doing part becomes easier. Using the above weight goal as an example, if you want to lose 10 pounds in 30 days focusing on what you have to do to lose the weight is not going to help you. But focusing on how you’re going to look on your vacation in that new bathing suit as a result of the weight you’re going to lose will make all the difference!

The last area I want to talk about is tracking your goals. It doesn’t necessarily matter how you track your goals. What’s important is that you do track them. I’ve used several tools over the years with this process. The one’s I like best are the Franklin Planner, Franklin Planner Software for Outlook, and just plain old Outlook. They each have many different variations and combinations you can use. But over the years there is one simple method I love and it’s this: I write all my goals in a 7”x5” spiral notebook and I keep it open on my desk in view every day. It’s open to the 3 top goals I’m working on with my coach. Every week I set 3 new ones. This keeps me focused on them without having to set up reminders and complicated software. It’s simple and it works.

It’s never too late to start a good goal setting process. By practicing the things I’ve taught in this article you can set yourself up for not only a great year, but a great life. Active goal setting is simple and it works. If you learn it and practice it you’ll see outstanding results. I believe in you and I know you can do it!