It's that time of year again where we look at getting ready for January 1st.
You're thinking of eating healthy, working out, losing weight, quitting smoking, quitting drinking, and a wide variety of other goals.
I really hope this is the year you stick with things.
The sad reality though when we look at New Years Resolutions they don't typically stick.
"With a study done only 9% of Americans that make resolutions complete them. 23% of the people quit their resolution by the end of the first week, and 43% quit by the end of January. "
- Fisher College of Business study.
Why do New Year Resolutions fail?
- Your goals aren't specific enough
- No accountability
- Lack of focus
- Unrealistic expectations
- Stress
- On the subconscious level
Sadly with these stats you potentially set yourself up for failure before you started.
Having done this time and time again with the resolution of this year will be great. It will be a new me. I'll start eating healthy and working out.
Unfortunately this was never the case. I never went through with any of them cause I didn't have a plan. I was flying blind. It was vague with nothing for me to measure and track towards my success.
I did an article a few weeks ago on why you should start before Jan 1st. The purpose behind that was about building habits going into the new year.
When you don't have a habit being formed it's hard to start from square one. Then you add the pressure of starting Jan 1st and this is a recipe for failure.
Building up all the hype around a New Years Resolution sadly will be more demoralizing if you don't follow through than if you create a 90 plan and start today.
The hype behind the resolution and then failing will deter you from trying more goals through out the year.
From a business stand point gyms love this time of year as they get the flood of new memberships and the flood of people that quit after the first week and don't cancel the memberships.
You might ask now what should I do then if the failure rate is so high.
One thing I did was build a system that worked for me which in essence I'll break down for you. This is one of the ways I work out my goals that gives me ability to track and take small actionable steps that I can use the compounding effect on to get where I want.
I use to look at 1, 5, and 10 year goals thinking there is no way I can achieve those targets. I was looking at them all wrong though.
When you take a 5 year goal the end result should look like a massive change has happened and daunting to try and achieve.
Break it down now into year by year what needs to be done and how you will do it.
Break that down even more into quarters. 90 day planning then broken down into weeks.
When you get it down into weeks you will start to see small stepping stones accomplished which will give you that feeling of success each week.
It will also let you track progress easier and reflect each week on where you can improve also what you did well.
Now a 5 year plan doesn't look so big as you have created the stepping stones with a solid foundation to achieve your success.
Reverse engineering the goal gives you actionable tasks, giving you progress towards your 5 year plan.
Sadly the reason you might struggle with the goals you set out for yourself might be more a mental block getting in the way.
With the subconscious involved if there is something in the mind that is holding you back. It needs to be worked on at a different level.
I recently read a case study where a guy had a part in his mind that wanted to lose weight and another part that liked late night snacking as a form of entertainment and keeping happy. He wasn't able to move forward with the goal of losing weight until he dealt with this conflict. Working with a hypnotherapist he was able to see why the part in his mind wanted to eat snacks late at night. This part was responsible for keeping the client happy. When the client stopped doing things like golfing and playing cards with his kids he turned to eating late at night to satisfy the happy emotion. When the concern was addressed on a subconscious level the client started golfing and playing cards with his kids again and dedicated specific times each week to these activities he was able to over come the late night eating. Working towards the goal of losing weight.
When you have this kind of conflict going on in the subconscious mind it will be hard to achieve specific goals. This isn't limited to just losing weight but can be smoking, drinking, fear of failure, and more. Unless you look at dealing with the deep rooted issue achieving success on a New Years Resolution or any goal can be difficult.
In essence if you can't start before New Years then the issue needs to be addressed why.
What's truly holding you back and how will you tackle the challenge.
I wish you all the best in the upcoming year and achieving the level of success you deserve.
If you have questions or need help in any way don't be shy to ask for help. Reach out and lets discuss any potential blocks or challenges you're facing!
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