New Years Resolutions?

So the festive season has come and gone and the very last remnants of the seasonal food are just about starting to disappear (bar the usual suspects such as the orange creams at the bottom of the tin of Roses).

Now is the time for us to assess the damage…and then clean it up!

Luckily for me, I am in Australia at the moment and so the fact that it is the middle of summer makes the thought of eating all day less than tempting than it usually is at home. However, that does not mean that I have been anywhere near perfect!

Nonetheless, the most important thing to remember is not to get down about it – but to look ahead and push on into the new year with the aim of making it your healthiest year yet.

This site gives a brilliant background and methodology for goal setting. I was particularly impressed that it went into the depth to cover all elements involved in designing your life including not only health, but career, artistic, financial, family etc.

That is the crux of the new years resolution really – setting goals effectively. Most resolutions fail only because they are half hearted dreams without a plan or a road map of how you are going to achieve them.

So get started now! Remember what those resolutions are and then:

a) really brainstorm all of the things that you want to achieve over the next week, month, year etc
b) make a list of at least 10 reasons why you must follow through (use strong language!) and at least 10 reasons why you must not fail. i.e. what will the outcome be if you achieve your goal and what will the outcome be if you do not. This creates drive and determination!
c) now list out all of the things you absolutely need to do in order to make these goals happen and create a strategy and a plan of action!
d) finally, right then and there do at least one thing towards attaining your goals!

This is a very simple approach and I would certainly recommend doing some more research and investigation into goalsetting techniques. I do go into some more detail here, but even this barely scratches the surface.

WARNING: however, do not use this as an excuse to procrastinate and spend three months researching how to set goals before you ever set any! Use this as a guide to get going NOW! You can always refine your approach as you go. Goalsetting is like any other skill, you get better at it the more you do. So get started!

p.s. one more thing I would add, and this is a common mistake people can make is: don’t be too conservative in your goals. We grow by setting goals that stretch us – be creative and be positive!