Crushing Your Goals:

The Ultimate New Year’s Resolution Success Plan

Hey, let me ask you something! What does a brand-new year mean to you? Is it just more of the same thing from the previous year? Or is it a time for self-reflection and goal setting, recognizing that each year that passes without solid plans represents lost chances to reach your full potential. Shouldn’t the new year be a time for renewed interest in taking ourselves and our dreams more seriously? If not at the start of a fresh year, then when?

One of the problems with goal setting is that we become frustrated and dismissive of our goals because, after a short burst of effort, there is almost always no real progress. Discouragement quickly sets in, maybe because we secretly expect instant gratification. When lofty goals are not broken down into smaller, more achievable objectives that can be measured, failure is a certainty.

Maybe you can relate to this scenario:

It’s the beginning of the new year and you decide you are going to finally “get into shape” and lose some weight too. You toss all of your junk food and sign up at the local gym for their New Year’s special deal. A few days into your new normal, all you can think about is the birthday cake you spotted in the break room at work, and you can’t lift your hands above your shoulders because of how sore you are from your extreme workouts you enthusiastically conducted for the past three days.

It gets worse because, despite your hard work in the gym, the scale announces that you haven’t lost a single pound. You feel sure it must be a mistake because, by your calculations, you firmly believe your rigorous activity should have melted away at least a pound or two. Your goals of getting into shape and losing weight start to quickly lose their shine. You muster up what’s left of your self-discipline and last another week, determined that this is going to be the year for true and lasting change.

Yet with every passing day, your goals are slowly dwindling and you gradually find yourself returning to old habits. One day, while chatting with some coworkers in the break room, you find yourself mindlessly munching on a leftover donut from the morning meeting.

Sudden thoughts of your New Year’s resolution jolt you awake and you think — I blew it… Your goal of a healthy diet has just been destroyed. Another week goes by and you realize you haven’t been to the gym at all. By the end of January, your willpower has been depleted, and regrettably, everything returns to normal. You resign yourself to your fate, telling yourself that “old habits die hard” and you just don’t have the willpower to change.

Sound familiar? Have you ever started the year with an enthusiastic and lofty goal, only to find that by the end of the first month or two, it seems to be only a distant memory that conjures up feelings of defeat, frustration or humiliation?

The fact that change is indeed quite possible because some people do achieve their goals leads to the question of “Where did I do wrong?” Let me be the first to tell you that, if you identify with this scenario, there is really nothing wrong with you, but there is something wrong with the goal you have chosen. Without the proper mindset and insight into what makes change possible, this scenario is undoubtedly an all-too-often reality.

Although it might feel great to imagine a whole new you, which you determine is only possible through the complete overhaul of your daily routine and habits, this is most often what leads to the failed outcome described in this scenario. It is overwhelming to try to change everything all at once, right?

Ask yourself this- how many years did it take to build your current habits? For how many years have you been having a sugary treat in the afternoon to help you get through the work day? Realistically, for most people, trying to make a drastic change like this doesn’t work.

Viewing your goals in a more realistic way may help a lot in your overall progress in achieving them. Breaking them down into more manageable objectives has been cited by many change experts as being the key to real and lasting change. To get an idea of what this means, try this exercise. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write your big goal at the top of the page. For this scenario, it would be something like, “Get in shape and lose weight.”

Now ask yourself this question: “How will I know when I achieved this goal?” You’ll notice that, because of how it is written, you won’t really be able to know for sure when you accomplished it. This is where smaller, more measurable goals come into place.

Take the first part of this goal “Get in shape,” and determine a smaller goal. What is something that will show you that you are making progress towards this end goal, something that you currently cannot do but can envision being able to do within a shorter time period, say 6–8 weeks into the future?

Maybe you notice that you get winded walking up a flight of steps at work so you regularly avoid the stairs and take the elevator instead. This could be a smaller goal you could work on, right? Once you achieve this, you will know that you are on your way to achieving the bigger goal. The smaller objective is to be able to take the stairs every day without getting winded. Reflect on this and decide how you can work on it.

After considering your time constraints and other priorities during the week, you decide that you can spare 15 minutes a day by taking a brisk stroll around the block after work or around the parking lot during your lunch break. With your smaller goal in mind, this seems like something you can do. You even come up with a few other options for incorporating daily exercise into your routine to keep your goal fresh and interesting.

After a few weeks of this one small commitment, you decide to start taking the stairs at work twice a week, even if you feel out of breath when you get to the top of the stairs each time. After about 6–8 weeks, you notice that you no longer struggle to take the stairs. In fact, you’re finding that you are able to do more things around the house without any trouble at all. This boosts your self-confidence and you feel great! Goal accomplished! You start taking the stairs every day and keeping to the daily goal of at least 15 minutes of any kind of physical activity because you are seeing results.

Now that you see that you can do what you put your mind to, you can start to look at other areas that would help with your overall goal of having a healthier lifestyle. Now you decide that you want to incorporate one meat-free healthy meal per week, using recipes you find on a healthy living website that you start to visit. It feels good to know you’re doing something to make yourself (and your family) healthier, even if it is only one day a week. As things progress, you decide to add the goal of having one sugar-free day per week to your routine. This is a tough one, but you get lots of ideas of ways to accomplish this from your research.

Another thing that helps you solidify your commitment to these goals is that you tell your kids or your spouse that Tuesdays from now on will be “meat-free” taco Tuesdays, and that you want them to help you come up with interesting recipes to try out. You start to have fun with this in ways you never thought possible.

You start to notice that your pants fit a little better than they did before and you have a little more energy to play with the kids or walk the dog. More encouragement!

If you keep this up, you will be healthier and will lose weight over time.

One more thing- make sure you celebrate these smaller achievements! And you will feel like celebrating once you realize you do have the willpower to accomplish your goals. Over time, you will begin to realize and appreciate the personal power you have over your life and your circumstances. And once you see how this works, you can apply this method of goal setting to any area of your life that you choose.

What goals for the new year do you have? Feel free to share them below and let me know what is working best for you. Happy 2024, everyone!