Make Your New Years Resolution Actually Work This Year

What’s your goal for 2018?

Every year millions of people tell themselves that they’ll “finally give up carbs”, or “get to the gym every day”. The first week feels good. You don’t eat any white bread and get to the gym every day after work/school. Then in week two, you decide, “hey, maybe I’ll just eat this one bite of cake”, and miss the gym to go see some friends.

One month into the new year, and you are back to your old antics — no resolution in sight.

You may be surprised (or not) that only 8% of people fulfill their resolutions, according to University of Scranton research. So, how do you go from failing to keep a new year’s resolution for your entire life, to making one work this year?

A few things:

1. You need to know how you will achieve this goal.
2. You need motivation.
3. You need the willpower of a small gnat.

[This blog post discusses measurable resolutions, that you work towards over the year — like an income goal. However, it’s principles can be applied to any resolution or goal you have.]

You Need to Know How You Will Achieve This Goal

Two posts ago, I wrote about creating a life plan. A life plan is a written document that states certain goals that you want to achieve by certain stages in your life. It then details how you will achieve this goal. Life plans come in two scales — macro and micro. The macro plan takes a look at your entire life, in stages (ie. age 25–40). The micro plan takes a look at your life in years (ie. age 18). Each compliments the other. The microstates a smaller goal for each year of your life that enables you to reach the big goal for that macro phase of your life.

So why do I bring this up? A micro life plan is exactly the thing that you should be creating when setting a new years resolution. Take your goal, say it is making $5000 per month in online income by the end of the year, and create a 1-year plan that discusses how you will go about making this money. Will you start a business? Will you do freelance work? Write down, step by step, day by day, how you will achieve this goal by year-end.

It helps if your resolution follows the “5 Golden Rules of Goal Setting”.

That is:

1. Set Specific Goals — the clearer, and more defined you can make it, the better. That is why a micro life plan works very well when setting new years resolutions.
2. Set Measurable Goals — giving it a number always makes it easier to work towards because it allows you to see progress.
3. Set Attainable Goals — don’t set an impossible goal — like wanting to become a billionaire in 1 year, starting from zero. Instead, split this big goal up into smaller goals. What is something that you can do this year, to attain that larger goal in the future?
4. Set Relevant Goals — this is fairly obvious, but set a goal that is best for you — your career, life, education…
5. Give it a time-constraint — by nature, a new years resolution is time constrained — it must be done within the year, sometimes sooner. Without this or a strong plan, goals will never be met.

Motivation

If you set a goal that follows these points and have a strong plan, one of the only other things that you need is some motivation. Post your plan on your bedroom wall, and read it over every morning. Ask yourself, “what can I do today to get this done?”.

Tell yourself why you want the goal. If it is monetary, think about what you can do with that new income. When you start seeing results, cherish them and allow yourself to get excited about them.

For some real motivation, find someone who will help you, like a good friend or parent. Ask them to ask you what you did that day/week to achieve your goal. Bringing in outside help really allows you to stay motivated.

Willpower

Realize, however, that there will be some days that aren’t all fun and games. Some days you will have no motivation, and not want to do something that will lead you towards that goal — be it writing a blog post or going to a meeting.

That is where willpower comes in. There’s no other way around it, you need to have a willpower like a small grant, always there, dodging around obstacles. When others are not there for you, you need to be the one to push through.

My New Year’s Resolution

My new years resolution is to have a minimum online income of $2000 (preferably passive income, but that’s pushing it). I think that by simply writing this blog, I will stay motivated to this goal, as the blog will eventually be a part of this income. Publishing an income report every quarter will also help me a lot, as well as daily posting — currently, I am watching this blog grow (view-wise) exponentially for the past few weeks.

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And, for those of you who still need some inspiration, here are 6 motivational quotes to get you through this new year.

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible!’” — Audrey Hepburn

“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” — Charles Swindoll

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” — Napoleon Hill

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” — Steve Jobs

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” — Leonardo da Vinci

“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” — Plutarch

Happy (early) New Year. Let me know your goals in the comments, and I’ll help hold you accountable for them.