Happy New Year! Chances are, if you set a New Year’s
resolution, you are now on day 3 of your resolution. I hope things are going
well. Let’s examine the second reason that New Year’s resolutions often fail.
In last week’s post, we discussed how people often lack the motivation they
need. The second reason resolutions fail is due to a lack of clarity and lack
of planning.
Reason #2 – Your
resolution lacks clarity, focus, and realistic expectations
By nature, resolutions are often very vague and represent
huge changes. According to a 2007 FranklinCovey survey, some of the most common resolutions are I am going to lose weight, I am going
to exercise more, and I am going to get out of debt. These vague, grandiose
goals are not only overwhelming, they can make coming up with an action plan an
extremely difficult process.
The solution:
The best solution for this issue is to ensure you are
setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. This is an acronym for setting goals that are specific,
measurable, attainable, reaching and timely. When we have a plan and a strategy
for how we will achieve our goals, they become much more manageable and
therefore more easily attained. Let’s re-examine one of our vague goals from
earlier – I am going to get out of debt.
The first step is to examine why you want to achieve this
goal so you can find your motivation. Next, you apply the S.M.A.R.T. principles
to the goal and it transforms into the following; I would like to pay off
$6,000 in credit card debt by the end of 2012. I will reduce my monthly
expenditures by $500 by lowering my cable bill, cutting out going out to eat
every weekend and taking my lunch 4 days a week.
By creating a plan, you can break the goal into bite-sized
chunks that enable you to monitor and measure your progress along the way. The
specifics of the goal and the step-by-step planning will make your resolution seem
less daunting and therefore more realistically attainable.
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