It’s too early to set yourself up for failure this new year.
New year resolutions still work
Many people have spoken against the yearly ritual of having new year resolutions (I prefer to call them yearly goals) and it’s understandable.
But should we just flow with whatever the year brings? I don’t think so. You can’t arrive at a destination you’ve not defined.
Now, I’ve also had my own fair share of annually setting goals that never get attained and that’s enough proof that there’s a fault in the yearly-goals system.
If every other year, I didn’t do the things I said I would do, saying I will do anything this year might just be a waste of time and drain of emotional energy.
Well, might….
2021 brought a different story for me. I did everything I said I would do except for one which I was hindered from due to some illness.
Looking back, I can see that what changed between the pattern previous years had taken and ticking all my yearly goals was my approach.
Our approach to yearly goals are what make them ineffective not the idea itself.
Here’s the lesson I learnt: short-term actionable goals are more powerful than long-term goals (wishes, actually).
For example, if you say, “I want to build a house this year” (a typical picture of the yearly goals of many), that’s TOO vague. It gives you zero guarantee to building the house and it doesn’t put the responsibility on anyone.
Compare that with, “I need to get 20 building blocks this week.”
The second states what needs to be done and who needs to do it. Since you are aware that there are only 7 days in this week, you are spurred to action and are more likely to achieve that.
Also, getting 20 blocks looks easier to achieve than building a house.
So here’s how I set my yearly goals for success:
- I don’t just state what I want— I back it up with what I will do to get it done.
- I break big goals into tiny actionable chunks that will add up to achieve that goal.
- Rather than visualizing one goal for the year, I visualize several weekly tasks.
From this model, I’ve been able to see myself approach the weekly tasks as a game and I try to outdo my previous week. This way, I receive rewards (the joy of completing a task) weekly and stay motivated for the next week.
It has saved me the drudgery and boredom of trying to get a giant project completed whose reward will only come 12 months later. (Typically, it never comes).
Maintaining excitement is the key here. Once you can shift the excitement attaining the goal will bring from the end and spread it throughout the process of achieving the goal, you won’t stop halfway.
I’ll be excited to learn you did everything you said you’d do this year by the end of the year.
