One of the most common things you do during a New Year is making New Years resolutions. But the chances are that you’ll never achieve most of your New Year’s resolution
Why? because the failure rate for those who make New Years Resolutions is a staggering ninety-five percent! Wow! That sucks.
According to a study published by the Scranton University on New Years Resolutions
- About 45% of adult Americans make New Years’ Resolutions
- Only 8% of those who make resolutions are likely to achieve them
Why are you likely to fail in achieving your resolutions? Because most resolutions are made the wrong way
The good news is that you can almost always achieve all your New Years’ Resolutions when done the right way.
It’s essential to understand why you make them .right? you can reach the point where you consistently achieve your resolutions,
The most common reason you make resolutions is that you want to improve or change areas of your life that you wish to happen.
That’s why I was not surprised when I looked at the 10 top most common New Year resolutions: they all revolve around making changes that will eventually make a difference in your health and well-being.
Stop Dreaming. Set A Goal
How do you avoid failure to achieve your New Years resolutions? First , you must understand the difference between dreaming about what you want and pursuing what you want.
For example, There is nothing wrong with having a dream to become a millionaire.
But if you don’t move beyond dreaming about becoming rich to working towards becoming rich …then you are fantasizing about wealth. That is why you must have goals and objectives.
A dream is usually the beginning of a desire to achieve something. But goals give more meaning to your dreams. Why? Because when you set goals to achieve a dream, chances are you will accomplish them. When you have a goal, you are likely to have a specific, action-oriented, timely, and realistic attitude toward achieving your New Year’s Resolutions. A dream is unrealistic
Bestselling author, Brian Tracy says a goal is a dream with a deadline.
Goals and objectives are similar in meaning but with a subtle difference. The difference between a goal and an objective is that goals are broader in scope and time. Objectives are shorter in time and have a narrow focus.
Make Your New Years Resolution Objectives
An objective is used for accomplishing short to medium-term desires. Therefore, when you make New Year’s Resolutions, you should make goals with short-term and medium-term objectives.
For example, one of my goals is to become financially independent through investing in the income-producing real estate . Because I have financial freedom through real estate as part of my goals…I usually have investing in real estate as an objective.
When you make your Resolutions as an objective of a larger goal, your chances of achieving them are higher.
Know Your Core Values
You must know your core values before making resolutions.
Why? Because to live a happy life, you need to figure out what are your priorities.
The more you do the things that you really want, the happier you are. That is why you must know your core values before making resolutions.
What do I mean by core values? I mean the feeling you have about what is right and wrong that is buried deep within your heart.
What do resolutions have to do with core values? It’s all about making sure you have long-term happiness. If you set goals that contradict your core values, you will wake up at the end of the year and say, ” I did what I wanted to do this year. But I feel miserable”.
You don’t want to end up at the end of this year as a highly successful but unhappy person.
Bestselling author, Michael Masterson suggested a way to ensure you don’t fall into the trap of making New Year resolutions that contradict your core value.
In his book The Pledge: Your Masterplan For An Abundant Life, Michael Masterson says you should imagine what the people at your funeral would truthfully say about you. Then imagine the way their words make you feel. If you don’t feel good about the words a specific person said about you, it means you are not living your life according to your actual values.
The key to finding your core values is to ask yourself,” what would I like this person to be saying about me at my funeral?” The answers to these question will reveal your core values.
When you know your core values and set goals that align with your core values, you’ll almost always achieve your New Year’s Resolutions.
I used to fail at accomplishing my New Year resolutions until I realized that the times I failed to achieve my goals were when I dreamed instead of being specific, realistic, and action-oriented…
Before you make the subsequent New Years Resolution, do This
So here’s my advice to you the next time you make your New Years Resolutions:
- Before you make your resolutions, ask yourself, “what are my core values” Why? Because your core values are what matters to you
- For each decision, ask yourself, “Is this resolution I am making a fantasy or a goal?” Remember when you dream, you are fantasizing and being unrealistic. When you set a goal, you are making a reasonable effort to accomplish your desires.
- Finally, make your resolution an objective towards achieving a goal that you are pursuing. Why? Because making your resolution, an objective gives you a timely, focused effort to achieve it.
From this day forward, you should never drop the ball in making your New Years’ Resolutions. Because you have the antidote for failing to make this year your best year ever
Bonus Reading For New Years Resolutions:
- 5o New Years resolutions ideas. I found this helpful article, and it was full of ideas on how to achieve your own goal
- How to improve your goal setting
- The Pledge: Your Masterplan for an Abundant Life