As 2011 rolls around and we prepare for a new year, the habit of making New Year’s resolutions comes to the forefront. This past week, I asked my students to list what they believe to be the top three New Year resolutions for society in general. To no surprise, the top three were lose weight, get out of debt and work out more. While the intentions behind the resolutions are good, the likelihood that the resolutions will be achieved is not so great.
According to general statistics, approximately 45% of adult Americans make New Year resolutions every year. Unfortunately, about 97% of the resolutions are never completely fulfilled. Why? Most resolutions are unrealistic and there is no action behind the resolution. Someone can say that they want to get out of debt all day long, but if they continue to go on shopping sprees, then it is not going to happen. Similarly, a person can say that they are going to lose weight, but if they don’t exercise and continue to eat junk, then no change will occur.
The base word of resolution is resolute, which means firmly resolved. So basically when you set New Year’s resolutions, you are saying that losing weight, getting out of debt, etc. will be firmly resolved within the next twelve months. You aren’t saying how it will be fully resolved or what commitment you will make to fully resolve the issue. It’s like a building with no foundation. It will eventually crumble, because there’s nothing holding it up. There’s no commitment or action behind the resolution. Furthermore, most of the things that you are saying will be fully resolved took you longer than twelve months to create so why limit yourself to fully resolving those things in a twelve month window.
Instead of making resolutions that you will likely not achieve, set goals with a detailed list of action steps that will assist you in successfully achieving those goals. Here are some examples for you:
Goal: Lose weight and exercise more
Action Steps: Join gym, exercise 3x per week, eat more fruits/veggies, throw out all junk food in the house
Goal: Spend more time with family
Action Steps: Make a date with your family every week and do something special. (special does not mean costly)
Goal: Increase personal development time
Action Steps: Schedule at least fifteen minutes per day for reading an inspirational book, listening to motivational CDs, etc. Increase the amount of time after committing to the fifteen minutes per day and making it one of your daily habits.
Now, doesn’t that make more sense than simply making a New Year’s resolution and never achieving it? Someone once said, “A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” Your goals and dreams are worth more than that, right? Stop treating them like a trend that is in one day and out the next. Make a commitment to yourself and take the daily action needed to achieve your goals and dreams. Now, that’s a real reason to put on the party hats, blow the whistles and scream Happy New Year!
(c) John Di Lemme
