New Year’s Goals
Well, this is a sensible question considering that most resolutions or goals are broken within the first two weeks of making them.
So what’s the problem?
Well firstly, we make them on New Years Day or New Years Eve. If we need to do something, if we need to make a change, why wait until then?
Waiting until it’s the ‘right day’ is just another way of saying that whatever it is, it’s not important. Our unconscious mind realises that, so it just doesn’t try too hard. Why should it?
The principle reason is because a New Years Resolution is just another way of saying ‘Here is my goal for next year’. And for Goals to be successful, they must have several key and important parts and be expressed properly.
Heard of SMART goals? Well here they are:
S= Specific and Simple. You must be specific and keep it simple. A goal such as ‘I’m going to lose weight’ is not specific. Your may lose 4 pounds and then your mind may well say ‘That’s it, goal achieved’ and you don’t lose any more weight.
M= Measurable and Meaningful to you. How do you know you have achieved it if you can’t measure it? Saying ‘I want to be happier’ just won’t work. Similarly a goal you don’t really want just won’t happen.
A= Achievable and expressed As if you were experiencing it right now. A goal must include all the emotional pleasure and joy you will get when you achieve your goal, Why? Next time you are watching TV, look at the adverts. They all appeal to our emotions, they make us WANT to buy their products. Adverts aren’t factual, they are emotional. Goals must makes us want to achieve them
R=Realistic and Responsible. In other words, is it actually possible to achieve your goal and does it fit with your values? If your goal is to be fit enough to break the world 100 metres record at the age of 74, that is not realistic. If your goal is to earn £1 million pounds next year in any way possible including crime, that may not fit with your values.
T= Timed and Towards. Set a deadline and express the goal in a forwards way not a negative one. For example, ‘I am going to lose 2 stone’ is a backwards looking goal. A better goal would be ‘By December 1st 2017 I will be 11 stone 3 pounds’ It makes you look forwards into your future.
So here is a good goal:
‘It is August 4th 2017. I am sitting with my husband by the pool at the hotel we go to in Tenerife. I am now 10 stone 4 pounds, having lost 3 stone in the last 6 months. So I am in my tiny bikini in the sun, sipping cocktails and getting admiring glances and even admiring comments from men as they go past. My husband is thrilled with my new figure and is proud of me, I am thrilled too because men notice me and I look amazing. Later tonight I will put on my little black dress for dinner and everyone will look at me and think ‘Wow!’ ‘
Isn’t that more fun than just ‘I want to lose weight’?
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