Killer New Years' Resolutions
Every year, millions of people around the globe make New Years' Resolutions.
Every year, millions of people do not keep them. So, how do you make a killer New Years' Resolution that means something and that you will keep.
Firstly, you need the tools. Forget trying to remember them. Write them down! Put copies up everywhere from when you open your cupboard to work out what to wear each day, to on your mirror in your bathroom, in your diary and as your screen saver on your laptop.
Secondly, tell your family and friends and ask them to make you accountable.
A New Years' Resolution is your commitment to yourself. It can be a goal, project or the reforming of a habit like smoking, eating too much chocolate or thinking negatively.
Breaking them up into different categories often helps and creating a list in order of priority and importance can make things much easier.
In previous years, I use to have a motto and live the year by that motto. Now, to be more effective, I like to put a list together that means something to me.
Here goes!
Personal
1. To laugh more. Find ways that even on the most bleakest of days, I laugh.
2. Be a better friend to those who I care about. Sometimes we get so busy in life, we tend to invest our time with people who demand it rather then people we want to spend time with. Making a list of people who are most important to your life and putting them as a priority in your diary will ensure that you touch base more frequently, even if its just for a coffee.
3. Open myself up more to possibility. If we don't open ourselves up to possibility, we become stagnant.
4. Challenge myself physically through exercise and sport.
5. Learn how to be stress free. As a self-confessed stress head, I know I have a problem and there is no time like 2012 to fix it. Whether its meditation, counselling, eating better, or learning the lessons I have not learned before, its something that I need to do.
6. Learn to love more. We all come with our own issues, but love is such a beautiful thing. I love my dog more than anything in the world and it gives me so much satisfaction in doing so. I look at her every day and smile because of the bond and love we share.
7. Help those less fortunate. Ozchild or any other charity that is committed to making the world a better place is high on the 2012 agenda.
8. Stop feeling guilty that I am passionate about travel and experiences. I almost feel embarrassed when I tell people I am hopping on a plane. It's time to stop. We are all built differently and if travel is what I enjoy doing, then so be it!
9. Take more risks. Once a colleague of mine said to me that I always achieve my goals because I don't make goals that are risky and my benchmark is too low. So, taking educated risks that may take me out of my comfort zone is now a New Years' Resolution.
10. Family come first. Full stop.
Business
1. Expand into the US market
2. Read more business books about successful entrepreneurs, how to be a better manager, how to lead.
3. Re-launch my other business in the market
4. Less time in the office, more time working from remote places
5. Encourage the 'team' to be more flexible with where they do their jobs. They sit in the office for 8 to 10 hours each day and they all have laptops. Go sit in a park, at the beach or at home and be inspired. Not everyday, but at least once a week. Travelling to work each day is the pits!
6. Write more.
7. Double sales from January to December 2012.
8. Be more focused on the numbers and leave the creative to those who are employed to do it.
9. Do every single item in my business plan - with no exception.
10. Create a happy and inspired environment. We can all improve in this area.
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comments ( 3 )
Jack Sliwinski
11 Aug 2017Very good blog, thank you very much for your effort in writing this post.
ReplyNereida
25 May 2012Mid-May: halftime! Best time to over think achievements and progression with my New Year's resolutions!
ReplyBack to my childhood, I noticed my parents talking about new resolutions starting the night after the New Year’s Eve. Skeptical? Well, of course! In my eyes already at that time January 1st was a rather unpractical day to start. We celebrate the turning of another year until the early morning hours. Who is then willing to get up at 8am for a run in the firecracker littered wilderness? Nevertheless, the motivation still runs high, knowing that society, as a whole, is undergoing the same obstacles- somehow supportive.
However, most resolutions find a way of disappearing amongst the spring winds because an overnight change from a normal human being to an “overhuman”, as Dionysius already called him in the first century B.C., is rather improbable and stays as a phenomenon in Greek mythology- let’s be honest with that!
Already not being able to stand the seduction of some bedtime sweets- the “normal” human being is understandably overstrained by the burden of resolutions pulling him away from his everyday life habits that sweetened his daily routine. Those normal habits include the right for the entirety of a Sunday to spent in bed, a late night restaurant visit among friends and the enjoyment of a cigarette in accompaniment with a glass of wine on a calm patio during those first warm summer days where the spirit is finally soothed up after a long winter “tristesse”.
Having learned from some disappointing “I’ll start with it next week” procrastination, I knew it was high time to change my strategy! German cars are successful and every launch results in some sort of track record. How is it that German car manufacturers can convert a single idea into tangible reality while my dreams of a better body stay static in the planning stage?
To be honest, I still don’t know how they do it. But, what I came to understand over time is the simple fact that is often forgotten, neglected or intentionally swept under the carpet. WE are human and not machines. Therefore, we have the unfortunate circumstance of not being able to flip a switch allowing us to instantly swap from “fast food” to what society has deemed as the politically correct opinion on “bio”.
So, in contrast to the majority of people, I don’t set 10 goals, starting points for new projects and other “in-contrast-to-old- habits” aims. I am not an advocate of taking off on the 1st of January with a sack full of resolutions all to be achieved at the same time without any further complications and setbacks as independent snowball effect success stories.
In the days before New Year’s Eve I take an afternoon- it’s cold outside anyways, so why not relax at home with a cup of hot chocolate- to plan my resolutions. For then is when I proceed to put pen to paper with my current life situation and focus on the aspects I am not so happy about. Then I write out my realistic ideal for life a year from now by picturing myself in that situation as if it was already real. E.g.:
I see myself living more consciously and enjoying the small moments in life with my family and friends. I take more care of my body in the battle stay healthy and to have a better feeling about myself. Luckily, I found a local jogging club where I made new friends with whom I go jogging on a regular basis now.
Of course, this development is not achieved within the snap of a finger. So, I give myself one year to slowly accustom myself to my new aims. This allows for me to adopt incremental change. As a way to record my achievements, I take 30min each month to write down what I achieved on the way to the “new me” during that month. I stay straight on my path by reading my final resolution text again to reflect on whether or not a happier me is in sight. As such, there is less pressure from not being stuck with an extraordinary list of resolutions for next New Year’s Eve. So, that I can rather enjoy that evening and not have to be afraid of the next day that starts at the crack of dawn with an intense power workout.
Paula
09 Jan 2012Writing a list of New Year's resolutions is the best way to ensure you stick to them. Being able to reflect on yourself, your situation and your future is the best way to make positive changes and be the best you can be. Constant reminders of the changes you want to make ensures you do it!
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