The first
week of a new year and of course everyone is doing it, making their resolutions
OR declaring that they aren’t making resolutions. Some people are discouraged
that they dropped last year’s resolutions long before any made a difference in
their lives; sometimes that’s a repeated pattern year-after-year until the
person simply decides to give up and doesn’t even try.
Alleged experts say that “independent surveys” have shown that only about 40-percent
of resolutions are still being “kept” after three months. So why is this
failure (for lack of a better word) rate so high? I would imagine that most
people want some kind of improvement in their lives and making a decision that
could positively affect them sounds like a good idea.
I’m making a
few resolutions, but I am not stopping there. Make your list of resolutions;
these should be things that YOU would like to see come to be in your life, if
you don’t care you won’t make the effort. Now let’s say you have five to ten
items on your list, do it like an outline with each resolution being numbered.
Under each resolution list the things you have to do in order for that
resolution to happen. Under each “project” set a timeline and/or a date it
should be done by. Steps and timelines make up your goals and are tangible things
you can actually achieve. Remember to keep these resolutions and dates
realistic.
For
instance, one of my resolutions this year (as in previous years) is to make
more money, so that would be number one. What steps am I going to take to make
this resolution happen? If I put (under sub-topic A) win the lottery, that is
an unrealistic step because while it COULD happen (hey, I have hopes), it is
not something I have control over. Yes, I can say play the lottery regularly to
perhaps increase my chances, you have to be in it to win it after all, but
again that is NOT a step to take to fulfill making more money. Something I do
have control over is seeking out more paying clients and writing more.
Realistically I can set “dates” by knowing my capabilities as a writer (aka
word count) and the time I can devote to writing to know how much work I can
take on in any given time period.
What are
some of my other resolutions? I want to get more organized. I want to learn new
things and keep my mind active. My next resolution is a common for lots of
people, I want to improve my health. I plan to see family and friends more
often and if distance makes that difficult, stay in touch with them. I want to
read more. And I want to find time to simply “meditate”. For each of these
resolutions (desires/wants) I will list achievable steps towards that result.
It’s like drawing a roadmap to your destination instead of floundering around knowing
what you want to happen but having no idea how to make it happen. Making the
same resolutions you made and didn’t keep last year will probably fail again
without a gameplan.
If you stray
from your self-assigned tasks, you can go back to it, don’t just give up. Sometimes
even when you think you have full control over a situation, things can happen
unexpectedly so just adjust and stay on track. You may have estimated your time
based on current performance and abilities, but emergencies and illnesses can
change that in an instant. Or you might find that you underestimated yourself.
Every (not less than) two to (not more than) six months reevaluate your resolution
list with tasks and timelines and fine-tune wherever you see the need. If you
make a plan you will have a better chance of satisfying yourself and look
forward to making new resolutions next year. Keep making plans until you find
one that works.
Happy 2016!
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| Plan your way there |
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