How To Maximize Your New Year Resolutions

More and more people decide to do away with New Year resolutions as they find themselves unsuccessful in keeping them year after year. The truth is New Year’s resolutions can be an effective goal-setting tool when you have specific aspirations that you’re hoping to accomplish. In addition, many New Year’s resolutions can act as a powerful opportunity for change. They assist in aspiring to setting life-changing goals and can be the new beginning you need when you have specific objectives that you’re hoping to fulfill. But, unfortunately, many people go about setting their resolutions incorrectly, which leads to disastrous results and disappointment along the way. And by this time this year, so many people have tossed out the idea of change that January 17th is officially known as ditch your resolution day. 

The good news is you don’t have to be part of that group of people that give up on an idea. Instead, you can read this article and find out what you’ve been missing from resolutions all of your life. Learning effective resolution-setting strategies can assure that, this year, you will accomplish what you set out to do.

Techniques that lead to successful resolutions:

1.    Dream. Dream about what you want to accomplish. Begin by thinking about what you want to get done this year. For example, do you want to improve your financial situation? Do you hunger to obtain a degree? Don’t be afraid to look beyond this current year if you have greater aspirations. For example, do you want to buy a new home in 2 years or change careers before you turn 30? Dream big and dream doable.

• Next, map out the accomplishments you’re determined to reach. Envision everything, don’t leave out any details that matter to you. Then, write down. There is power in the written word. Then put that paper somewhere you can review it regularly.

2. Next, Turn these dreams into long-term intentions. Since you’ve allowed yourself to dream and you know where you want to be, and you can see yourself doing it, now it’s time to plan some measurable goals accordingly. These will be your resolutions. For example, if you want to purchase your home in two years, think about what can you accomplish to get to that bigger picture this year? One idea could be to “put away $5,000 into a savings account in 12 months to use towards a down payment.” 

3. Next, break each of your resolutions into specific monthly achievements. Design the details. Divide your long-term goals into monthly goals. For example, if you propose to save $5,000 for a down payment on a home, a monthly plan may be to put $400 away each month. Think about how you will accomplish this. Will you put away $200 from each paycheck, or will you set aside $100 a week?

• The key is to create monthly goals that are easy to reach but help you work toward your goals. Set yourself up for success by not setting your goals beyond what you can reasonably afford. Try not to establish monthly goals beyond your capacity because this will not help you achieve the big goal. It will only leave you frustrated and feeling defeated.

• Be sure to set SMART goals. By using this system, you set yourself up for success. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. So, for example, instead of setting up a vague plan to save money this year, you’ll create specific and measurable goals with time limits or deadlines. So your goal would look like putting $200 into a savings account every pay period this year. This SMART goal is much more obtainable.

4. Plan out your mini-goals. Think of these actions as stepping stones. These are enabling goals that help you achieve your long-term intentions. Of course, some long-term goals accommodate themselves better to short-term goals than others, so craft carefully. 

• If we follow the model resolution as before, the enabling goal may be to work 40 hours every week in January or cut my entertainment budget by $50 in January and put this money into my savings account. Choose your stepping stones.

5. Get started today. The sooner you begin to plan out your New Year’s resolutions, the sooner you’ll be able to start reaching goals and achieving objectives. We like New Year, but any day is a great day to start, so get started on your goal-setting strategy today.

You can set New Year’s resolutions that drive results, and you can benefit from them on each day of your year. These techniques will help you get the most out of your goal-setting strategy to attain the life you desire.