3 Tips For Making New Year’s Resolutions
By Anna Johnson on December 31st, 2008It’s New Year’s Eve! So… if you’re planning to make some New Year’s resolutions, here are three (3) tips for making resolutions you actually keep in 2009. (Apparently most people don’t…)
1. Choose ONE goal.
That’s right. Instead of resolutions… make it ONE resolution.
Many of us tend to take on too many projects that, combined, are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Why not focus on ONE goal instead? After all, once you’ve achieved that particular goal, you can always set new ones during the year.
Also, even if it’s easy for us to commit to multiple goals… even if it’s physically possible for us to achieve multiple goals… at a SUB-CONSCIOUS level we may not believe we can achieve all those goals. And guess what? Our sub-conscious rules.
So why not work WITH our sub-conscious rather than FIGHT it?
Rather than set too many goals… or try to solve gigantic problems… why not set one goal or problem that, at a sub-conscious level, we KNOW we can accomplish or solve?
2. Approach that goal in SMALL, EASY steps.
To make absolutely sure you achieve the goal you set for yourself, I also urge you to tackle that goal by taking SMALL steps that are EASY to accomplish.
You may be wondering why – if we’re only taking on one goal or problem that we know we can handle – we shouldn’t just blaze our way through and make radical changes to accomplish what we want?
If the plan is to quadruple sales this year … why not throw everything against that goal and go all out? If that means going from working 8 hours per day to 14 hours per day, so be it. If that means making radical changes to how you – or your staff – work, then that’s what it takes.
Well, if making radical changes works for you – or there IS no other way – by all means go for it.
But here’s a reality check. If you’re like many people, a radical approach won’t work. Why? Many people just can’t sustain radical changes. (That’s probably more important to keep in mind if you employ staff.) We need only consider how few people stick to radical diets or radical exercise regimes to know this.
That’s not to say that some radical changes don’t cause people to change. Radical changes that are externally imposed – rather than self-imposed – often work a treat. But radical changes that rely on YOUR will-power or discipline are often much harder to make.
In fact, people seem to be much more responsive to HABITUAL rather than radical changes. After all, much, if not everything we do, is habitual. And all those habits – from brushing our teeth to doing whatever we do when we first sit down to work – are all learned behaviors we’ve gradually, sub-consciously incorporated into our lives.
So, again, why not work WITH our sub-conscious rather than fight it?
Rather than make wholesale changes, why not make small, gradual changes that become HABITS? New habits that become ingrained in your personal or professional/business life… just like your old habits.
If it’s a matter of, say, getting up earlier in the morning, then instead of going from a 7am start to a 5am start, why not gradually bring the time back each morning?
If you literally got up 5 minutes earlier than the day before then it would take 24 days before you get up at 5am. But if you’re like a lot of people, taking 24 days to go from 7am to 5am would be MUCH less stressful, less tiring, and more permanent, than doing it in one day.
Chances are that if you went from 7am on Monday to 5am on Tuesday… you would have had enough of the 5am starts by Friday, when you’d be back to 7am and vowing that you ‘just can’t get up early.’
It may not appeal in this ‘quick fix’ world, but ‘slowly but surely’ wins when it comes to changing behavior.
Think of that frog sitting in a pot of luke-warm water while the heat is slowly turned up. Before the poor frog realizes what’s happening, it has boiled to death. But had you tried dipping the frog into boiling water to start with, it would have jumped out of your hands as soon as you can say, “pass the salt”.
Your sub-conscious — which has the ultimate say over what you do and don’t do — is like that frog.
So your best chance of keeping your New Year’s resolution is to slowly turn up the heat on your sub-conscious, rather than attempt to force it into a boiling cauldron!
3. Choose a goal you’re PASSIONATE about.
Finally, before it comes to selecting a goal, let alone working out the small, easy steps necessary to achieve it… my best tip is to choose a goal you’re passionate about.
Actually, the chances of achieving multiple goals – and making radical changes – are probably much greater the MORE you’re passionate about those goals.
I still think you’re better off setting ONE goal and taking it in small, easy steps, but, in any case, half the battle is over when you decide to pursue a goal that excites you to your very core.
Okay, so there you have my three (3) tips for making New Year’s Resolutions. Whether or not you apply them – and whether or not you make any New Year’s resolutions – let me wish you the very best for 2009.
May it be a year in which you blast through obstacles, exceed expectations, and grow your Internet marketing business beyond your dreams. And, of course, we at Kikabink will be here to help you along the way.
Look out for your next issue of Kikabink News on Monday January 5, 2009. 2009 – here we come!
December 31st, 2008 at 9:15 am
Very nice presentation, Ms. Johnson. I enjoyed reading it. Thank you.