Nail your New Year’s resolutions!

Tired of living in a limbo of a 2020 sequel? Then, get up from the couch, turn off TV, and turn on your creativity. We invite you for a brainstorming session with yourself, to find your perfect New Year’s resolution and figure out the plan to keep it. Even in these crazy times, you can take (at least partially) control of your life!

Are you ready? Set aside an hour of your time, make a cup of tea/coffee and get yourself pens and paper or open a new document. You will create your own canvas that will set you for success and allow you to use some of your restless energy into something productive and rewarding, like a new hobby or a career goal.

Divide your document into six sections.

An example of canvas for oyur next goal — now make your own!

Goals, or reachable objectives

First, jot down all the goals you have on your mind. This year don’t pressure yourself too much. The pandemic makes us more vulnerable than ever. It generates so much more stress that setting ambitious goals requiring a huge effort might be tricky. So, scale down on the number and ambitions. Possibly, consider something that gives you energy rather than drains you from it. For example, focus on a hobby you want to develop, nail that new professional skill that sparks your curiosity, or use dancing as a way to get your body in shape. Write down everything that comes to your mind, then select top goals that you are determined to pursue this year. Hopefully, your list will not be too long. Then rewrite your favorite goals to make them SMART. For example, instead of saying “I need to build a network” say “I want to get in touch with 50 people who could support my network and make 35 meaningful contacts on LinkedIn.” Instead of “I want to pick up running this year”, say: “By May, I want to be ready to run 10 K without a break”. You get the pattern.

What will you do? Tasks and activities.

To make your goals feel less overwhelming, break them into smaller pieces. On your canvas, answer the questions “what will I do to achieve my goal(s)?”. Brainstorm on different ideas and note them all down. They could be daily routines you want to establish, like “10 min stretch every morning”, activities, such as “attend online training on subject X” or simple actions like “download a jogging app”. The more, the better. Then decide which ones you like and are ready to implement.

Your own deadlines

Now, the exciting part! Give yourself deadlines that you are willing to keep. This will take two sections on your canvas. Section three: what do you want to see happen this quarter? Section four: what will you do in the next two weeks to move closer to your goal? (You could pick some of the tasks and activities that you came up with in section 2).

The quarterly deadlines will help you assess your progress (and you will really see the results in a 3-month period!), whereas biweekly planners will allow you to take one step at the time. Review your canvas every two weeks to set a new biweekly plan, and quarterly to see how things are progressing. And if you don’t meet your expectations, don’t beat yourself up. Just think what you change in order to do better in the next quarter.

Obstacles

Write down all the obstacles you might encounter on your way. It might be your lack of discipline, temptations that you can’t resist, demotivation, a bad day or external factors, such as a peak in the workload or a family emergency. This will allow you to be a little bit more at ease when things don’t go as planned, see a bigger picture and understand your triggers. We are all human!

People you will need

Research shows that the best way to deliver what you promised, is to promise it to someone else. So, as the final step, add to your canvas your accountability buddy. With this person, you will share your resolution(s). It could be, for example, your partner, friend or colleague, someone who will hold your accountable, or can even check on your progress from time to time. Ideally, you could find someone who wants to reach the same or similar goals, then team up to support each other.

You could also indicate people whose support you might need on the way to your goal. For example, an online yoga community might help you with your resolution to take care of your back, with a mentor you will be more likely to get a promotion, and a life coach could help you overcome your tendency to procrastinate. Depending on the goal, there might be a whole variety of people and communities to whom you could (or should) reach out to.

Visualise your goals

In parallel to creating your canvas, you could design your own poster to keep you motivated. Just browse online for images that best represent what you want to accomplish. Copy them into a document and name each photo with one goal. Then use your poster as a desktop background or print it out to hang it around the house, at your workstation or on a fridge, or somewhere else where you could see it daily. It will help you keep in mind what you want to achieve and make it a reality.

You can create your own poster to keep you motivated throughout the year.

R e a d y ? One, two, three, and go! We wish you best luck with your next goal! Keep us posted!

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions this year? How is it going? Does this canvas can help you? Share your comments with us!