I think we've all had the experience of making New Year's resolutions only to break them in just a few short weeks. So why does this happen? And how can we see our goals through to completion?
Personally I don't make New Year's resolutions due to the stigma of having them fail. Instead I set goals that I intend to work towards all year. I choose things that will really make my year incredible and that I'm determined to achieve.
Why New Year's resolutions always fail
Most New Year's resolutions are made on the spur of the moment or treated as something we'd like to do. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but having a goal of winning the lottery isn't that effective as there's little you can do to help you achieve it. But it's still the same with the classic goal of losing weight (or more correctly fat) if you're not prepared to put in any effort.
As I've talked about before we're responsible for our own lives. We can't expect our mummies and daddies, our partners, the government or the lottery people to swoop in and give us the lives we want. If we want a change then it's up to us to do it.
Do you have a big enough reason why?
So if you want to achieve a goal you first have to ask yourself how badly you want it. If losing fat or becoming a millionaire would be nice then you're on the wrong track. You have to realize why you want these goals and what they mean to you.
But if you want to lose weight because you want to date someone who's fit and healthy and realize that they're unlikely to even look twice at you unless you're the same... well that might give you some motivation. As would having everyone point and laugh when you go to the beach. It helps to keep in mind that in most cases the more pain you experience around your goal the more motivated you'll be.
Keeping the momentum
Staying with the losing weight goal most of us start out with the best intentions and then it sinks in just how long it'll take to reach our goal. It's obvious that if having our ideal body was easy we'd all be fabulous looking so it shouldn't come as a surprise that there might be a little work involved. However it's not as hard as it seems.
What I now like to do is set little goals on the way to the big goal. So this month's goal might be just to simply go for a walk every day for 30 minutes. Now this won't transform my body overnight but it's a good start before increasing the intensity of the exercise.
Plus it's achievable and I can get instant feedback on my progress (am I walking each day or not?). It shows I can commit the time and my body isn't going to rebel with huge amounts of pain like suddenly going to the gym can. So I take the first step towards my goal and feel good about myself.
The biggest mindset shift of all
A recent discovery I've made is to stop focusing on the goal so much and start to focus on the process of achieving the goal. This means you fall in love with what you do every day rather than waiting for a big payoff when you finally reach your goal. Because if you wait for the payoff you'll find it short-lived and you might even revert to your previous lifestyle and lose all your hard work.
So if you want to lose weight you have to fall in love with being a fit and healthy person. You'll want to find exercise you enjoy doing and want to do long after you've achieved your goal. The same with eating well... it's no good going on a diet you hate because you'll be constantly fighting your self-control.
That's why I hate the word diet as it's a temporary solution... and why so many people balloon out when they finally stop doing their diet. The people who succeed find healthy foods they enjoy eating and start to associate massive pain with the junk foods of the past. This is the only way to sustain a fit and healthy lifestyle.
How does this apply to your business?
I've talked a lot about health and fitness here when I could of used a business goal setting example instead. The same rules still apply to your business and you have to find a sustainable way of growing your business. You simply discover the actions that lead you towards your goal and keep doing them over and over again.
But every business owner should also try to be as fit and healthy as possible... why? Because you're the one person that your business' success relies on. If you're tired and rundown then you'll hold your business back.
But don't beat yourself up!
If you fail to do something or reach a goal don't be too hard on yourself. We're all human and there are so many factors within ourselves that will hold us back. But if you consistently work towards your goals then you'll break down those barriers one by one and get there in the end.
What we don't want to do is get discouraged and give up as that's the only real way to fail. If we work long enough and hard enough on a goal while being flexible in our approach we're going to get there one day. When the going gets tough we need to take a step back... breathe deeply... and decide how we're going to tackle the next obstacle.
What you do next
Decide what you'd like to accomplish over the next year and write it down. Then break down the goal into smaller steps that build on the last. Finally... commit yourself to the goal by signing the piece and paper and putting it on the wall.
Then just get to work and let me know how it goes!
