Dear Auntie, I get so excited to set my New Year’s resolutions and always feel like I’m going to do it, but then I never actually do. Got any tips for following through?
Well, I can say that you are not alone. About 75% of people who make New Years resolutions stick to their goals for at least a week, and less than half (46%) are still on target six months later. There’s only about 8% of folks who are successful in achieving their resolution overall.
So how can you be successful in creating a better life for yourself? Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:
What type of resolutions are you making?
Power Based
Research out of Marquette says that people making New Year’s resolutions based on POWER can actually have negative results and these types of resolutions can be bad for you. So you might want to rethink your resolutions if they are predominately power based like, ‘making more money’, or ‘controlling family members’.
Uplifting yourself and humanity
If you’re looking into goals that center themselves on the Sacred like, ‘spending more time in prayer’, ‘being grateful’, ‘acknowledging the beauty in yourself and others’, or ‘sharing more about your tribe’, you’re likely to live a more positive meaningful life.
So first consider what types of resolutions you are setting for yourself. Allow yourself to think ‘big’ and focus on the things that will add value and meaning to your life.
Once you’ve got an idea, here’s how to put it into action:
- Develop a plan of action. Write a step-by-step plan for achieving your smaller steps, and ultimately your main goal. This includes planning deadlines for each target and writing down all the “nitty-gritty” small things you can do today, tomorrow, and later on this week in order to achieve your goal and targets.
- Identify the obstacles. Sometimes, in spite of the best intentions and thorough planning, obstacles get in the way. Obstacles don’t necessarily stop you from achieving your goals, but they present a roadblock. They challenge you to devise strategies to overcome them.
- Focus on the rewards. You might feel motivated if you focus on rewards rather than the pain involved in achieving your goals. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to write down all the benefits you hope to gain.
- Visualize success. You can create an image of the things that you want to achieve and use it for inspiration.
- Be flexible. Have multiple options in mind to achieve your goals.
- Get support. From those like friends, elders, spiritual leaders and family.
I hope this helps. 🙂 Best of luck to you in the new year!
Auntie Manda
