Are You Struggling with Your New Year's Resolutions?

If you are, then you are not alone.

In 2007, FranklinCovey surveyed 15,031 of their customers about their New Year’s Resolutions.  They found that 35% of people break them before the end of January, with another 42% breaking them at some point after that.

I’m not surprised that 77% of people give up on their resolutions in such a short period of time.  New Year's Resolutions are difficult to keep unless you have tremendous willpower, a life-changing experience, or someone who can help keep you focused, support and motivate you through to achieving your goals.

In my experience I’ve found that people who only set goals once a year just because it’s the "thing to do" are not truly goal-oriented people.  And I admit I used to be one of them.  But now I don’t believe in making New Year’s Resolutions that are, for the most part, just paying lip service to the deep-down desires we all have for making changes in our lives.

Instead I believe in setting realistic goals and making plans all year long, and I work with my clients to do the same.  It does take discipline, but for me it’s the key to real achievement and absolute success.

Setting achievable goals isn't enough on it's own though.  Planning your time to fit your needs is one of the most important ingredients.  If you don’t plan your time, someone else will plan it for you.  And that will carry on every week, every month and every year until you take action to get it back.

We live in a technically advanced world where people are incessently fighting for our attention, with constant distractions such as emails, phone calls, text messages and social media all intruding upon us through the latest mobile gadgets such as smart phones and tablets.  But at the same time, we know that being laser focused on our goals is really the key to getting the most out of our own abilities to achieve them.

So how do we stay focused in a world that can so effortlessly suck time away from us?

Well, as Michael Altshuler once said.  "The bad news is that time flies.  The good news is that you're the pilot".

And I agree with him.  You are your own pilot.  You decide where you want to go, and when.  In my opinion, one of the most effective ways of ensuring that we stick to our plans and accomplish our goals is to dedicate the necessary time to ourselves to keep on setting, evaluating and updating our goals and action plans all through each year.  That's what will get us from where we are now to where we want to be.

So put an action in your diary now to revisit your New Year's Resolutions every week of every month, to re-evaluate and update your plans, and keep moving closer to acheiving your goals.

Pauline Couper
http://www.caterpillar-coaching.co.uk/