Don’t Make New Years Resolutions, Again!

If you’re like me, in the past you will have made New Years Resolutions on January 1st, only to find that, by about the 14th  at the latest you’ve broken them! I know that I was like this for years; with the best will in the world I could not keep to a resolution for more than a few days at the most.

Then, as I grew and began working on myself, I discovered that 99% of the ability to reach a goal is supplied by our mindset, and that part of our brain cannot process negatives – it just “hears” the positive part.

I was sitting, talking with a good friend one day about this and she said “I’ll prove it”. I wasn’t quite sure what she meant but she went on “No matter jwhat I say or do, do not – and I mean do not under any circumstances imagine that you can see a big, cuddly pink lady giraffe with a long neck, beautiful big brown eyes and long, fluffy eyelashes”. Of course, I could see the giraffe as plain as day despite being told not to think of it. My brain then spent a moment or two trying to erase the thought to no avail. It was pointless, Ms Giraffe was here to stay!

My point in mentioning this is to comment that, like my previous attempts, most people’s resolutions are set incorrectly. For our minds to process them corrdctly and efficiently they need to be set as GOALS, A goal is usually something positive and specific that you have an earnest desire to achieve. The difference can be shown by the millions of people who desire to lose weight. Just concentrating the moind on “weight loss” means what we reallt attain is more weight! Instead, those who are goal-setters will usually have a goal weight in mind. That itself is not necessary, it can be just as productive to have a vision of yourself or of being at a target weight in mind, notnecessarlily of “losing” so much.

It’s also necessary to have an action plan of how you are going to achieve your goal. It’s no good just wanting something without knowing how to get it. That;s like trying to drive somewhere without a map or any idea of which roads to take, nor even which direction to start travelling! Make your goals achievable, but not so big that the end result is too far away; you can always set sub-goals and many people find great satisfaction checking them off as they achieve them.

You should also have a powerful reason “why” you’re wanting to do this, the more powerful the reason “why”, the more successful you will be at attaining your goals because the “why” is the driving force behind the attainment. Similarly, the more specific and visually graphic you can make the goal in your mind, the more successful you are likely to be. The more “real” my friend “painted” the mental picture of the giraffe, the more clearly I could “see” it!

I also blogged about this last year, you can read it by clicking the link just below the “share” bar. Speaking of which, share away if you would, please.

So, a Happy New Year from me and don’t forget you can leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you and on your thoughts.