It’s well known new year’s resolutions don’t have a high success rate. Forty per cent of us make them, with only 8% of those people sticking to their promises [Forbes]. So why do we continue to make resolutions even though so few of us follow through? Perhaps it’s the allure of a new year offering a fresh start and a clean slate.
Many of my clients focus on everything they didn’t achieve and before you know it another year goes by and life feels like a day in the movie ‘Groundhog Day’. To increase your chances of success, shift what you focus on. Here’s a two-step process to inspire you into action.
1. Appreciate your achievements: think back on 2013 and make a LONG list of absolutely everything you’ve achieved, large and small. Reflect by answering these questions:
- 2013 was the year I did… what?
- What was your greatest lesson from the year?
- What are you most proud of achieving in 2013?
- If you could repeat the year, what would you do differently?
- How do you feel when you look back on 2013?
2. Your vision for 2014: imagine next year is drawing to a close and you’ve achieved everything you set out to do.
- Write a description of your life as you’d like it to look like at the end of 2014.
- Use headings such as career, health & lifestyle, family and finance.
Be as creative as you like: write your story or create a visual. It’s amazing how powerful this exercise can be.
- What would your ideal ‘theme’ for 2014 be?
- In three years time, how do you want to remember 2014? As the year you did what?
- What three things can you do to set yourself up to succeed?
- What small steps can you take in week one of 2014 to start the year with a flourish?
I’d like to close with a famous quote, attributed to Einstein (among others): “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” It’s your decisions, not your conditions, that determine your destiny. Be bold: you can achieve more than you think.
Jennifer Baker is director of Baker Coaching
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