Studies have shown that many people start off the New Year with resolutions, and by the third week in January they’ve already “blown it” and have given up on striving toward their goals. Rather than setting New Year’s Resolutions, I invite you to ring in the New Year with intention.
“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” –William James
There’s a difference between setting New Year’s Resolutions (goals) and having an intention. Understanding this distinction plays an important role in successfully planning for success in the New Year. Keep reading to learn more. It may mean the difference between yet another failed attempt at doing something, and finally achieving success!
Although many people start working toward achieving goals in January, you can start fresh anytime you choose!
Four Essential Ingredients to Achieving Success
1. Celebrate your wins.
Before planning for the coming year, I encourage you to celebrate your wins for the past year. You may not realize how much you have accomplished until you do a review.
One way to jog your memory is to review your calendar for the last 12 months. Often, important milestones will be represented by events that you scheduled into your calendar. You may also want to review photos or social media posts, as these are common ways that many people capture their joys and successes.
You may be surprised at how many wins – big and small – you’ve had over the past year. Celebrating these wins will provide the encouragement you need to accomplish even more, so don’t overlook this important step.
2. Reflect on your failures.
Your failures are just as important to your growth as your successes are. When you use failure as an opportunity to reflect rather than feeling defeated by it, you’ll gain valuable insights, awareness and wisdom. If you failed to reach a goal this year, don’t be too hard on yourself. Doing so will diminish your self-esteem, confidence, and your motivation to try again.
Instead, forgive yourself, let go of any guilt or frustration, and turn your attention to what you can learn from your mistakes. Every failure offers valuable lessons if you just take the time to reflect and learn. Once you’ve anchored your learning, you’ll be better prepared to overcome any obstacles in your way for the coming year.
3. Clarify your intentions for the coming year, as well as the motivations behind them.
Are you likely to usher in the New Year with optimism, gratitude and clarity? Or are you more likely to greet 2019 with pessimism, a scarcity mentality, and confusion?
Although much of the news focuses on doom and gloom and it’s easy to be in “auto-pilot” mode and buy into that, you also have the option of choosing what you focus on. What you focus on will have a profound impact on what happens in your life in the coming year.
To thrive in the coming year, stay in gratitude and maintain a positive emotional state. Keep focused on your goals and intentions, learn new skills, take inspired actions, and develop supportive habits.
Create written goals that are specific, measurable, and big enough to really take you to the next level!
Jack Canfield offers a simple and effective worksheet for identifying your goals and intentions for the coming year. Jack’s worksheet is an excellent tool for getting clear about what you would like to be different in several areas of your life: finances, career/business, free time/family time, health, relationships, personal growth, and making a difference.
When you complete the worksheet, I encourage you to dig as deep as you can for the WHY behind your intentions. For example, if one of your goals is to leave your office by 5 PM daily, you might be inclined to write down for your WHY, “Work less hours.”
Identify what is behind your goal – something that inspires you! For example, a deeper WHY might be, “…so I can be home for dinner with my family and build deeper bonds with my spouse and kids.”
The best way to uncover the deeper WHY is to ask yourself, “So what?”
This process is like peeling an onion. There may be many layers! Complete this sentence as many times as you need to in order to uncover the deeper WHY:
I want ______ (your goal)
So what? … So that I can ________ (your deeper why).
Remember that every time you say YES to someone or something, you are saying NO to someone or something else. By identifying your deeper WHY, you’re creating a more compelling reason to say NO to an old habit or activity so you are available to say YES to a new activity that supports your intention.
4. Build in accountability and support for yourself.
Begin connecting daily with an accountability partner – someone who can hold you accountable.
Share your daily intentions with your accountability partner by sending an email that identifies three kinds of intentions – happy, healthy, and wealthy. By sharing your intentions with someone else on a daily basis, you are more likely to follow through with what you committed to doing. Creating intentions in all three of these areas will help you maintain balance in your life, which is a very important part of success. Why strive for wealth if you are not happy and healthy in the process?
You determine what will make you happy, healthy and wealthy — however you define each of those. In order for this to work, you and your accountability partner will need to commit to a daily process.
Working with accountability partner is one of the best ways to improve your self-discipline and stay on track with honoring your intentions. When you select your partner, be sure you choose someone who can suspend judgment if you don’t do something you said you would do. Otherwise, if you’re constantly feeling judged when you’re less than perfect, you’ll probably not report honestly. It’s okay to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them and make adjustments. That’s the way humans learn.
Click here to access more tips on ways to select and manage an accountability partnership and your daily check-ins with each other.
If you’d like a fresh perspective– someone to help you clarify your intentions for the coming year—let’s schedule a no-cost, no-pressure Discovery Call today.
Additional Resources:
Blog: Managing the Sticky Notes of Life
Blog: Power in Your Purpose
Blog: Create What You Want
Blog: Commitments that Matter
Blog: Beat Procrastination by Finding an Accountability Partner
Tip Sheet: Accountability Partnerships
Free Ebook: 7 Strategies to Overcome Overwhelm
Guide: Creating New Habits
Guide: Living with Purpose
Guide: Cultivating Happiness: Living Life on Your Terms
Self-Paced Course: Guide to Getting Motivated & Achieving Your Goals
