Making this your best year yet
by Mira and Charles on December 24th, 2009Thoughts of the new year bring up hopes that this will be your best year yet. And of course there are inevitably things we don’t like about ourselves or our lives. So sure as winter brings cold and snow to us up here in
Well, don’t! UNLESS… well, how have your past resolutions worked out for you? If you’re like me (and I’m like most people in this respect), your past resolutions haven’t brought you the major changes you were hoping for. In fact, New Year’s Resolutions are too often a set-up for failure and discouragement. Sorry, but it’s true, and you know it.
But is there an alternative? YES! For good, quick help, the solution is called a New Year’s Plan. You want to change something in the new year? Fine, but focus on the how, not the what. How will you carry out your resolution? If in your answer, you used words like “determination” or “committed,” you’re doomed! If commitment and determination were the answer, you’d already have what you’re hoping to have now.
Having a plan is the real secret of people who are successful with their New Year’s resolutions.
To form a plan, ask yourself these questions, and try to find the best answers you can:
1. “Who will support me?” You need support if you hope to succeed. Someone to guide you, advise you, encourage you, stay on your case, be your partner. Someone to take you by the hand and be with you step by step.
2. “What’s the step-by-step?” Every important goal is the sum of success with a lot of little goals. All right then, how can you break down what you want to do into a series of steps? What’s the one-day-at-a-time version of your doing what you want to do?
3. “Where are the glitches?” For your resolution to succeed, you should ask in advance “If I failed at this, how would that happen?” Who, or what, would sabotage your efforts? If you know where you will run into trouble in advance, you can clear away the obstacles before they get in your way.
4. “Are you doing this for yourself?” If you resolve to do something just to please someone else, that’s a setup for failure. You’ve got to know why you’re making this resolution, and you’ve got to understand down to the bottom of your heart why it’s good for you to succeed with it.
And the cool thing is that if you follow this advice, keeping your New Year’s resolution can be easy. Finally this can be the year where you really do lose that weight, learn Spanish, run a marathon, write a novel, or make any other dream come true.
One quick tip that will make your New Year’s Plan even more powerful: tell everyone about it.
I’d say Good luck, but if you follow this advice, you won’t need it. So, Have fun!
If you want to go further with the idea of making a real change in your life or just give yourself the best year ever, there’s one book that is the best resource ever, and it’s called The Gift of a Year. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
If you just want to feel better in the new year (no small thing!), check out The Emotional Energy Factor, named one of the five best psychology books of the year by the Books for a Better Life Foundation.
Happy holidays to all of you, and best wishes for a new year filled with peace, prosperity, love, and joy.
