5 Ways to Make Sure you Reach your Goals and Resolutions

Whether it’s the beginning of a new year or a new month, it is important to set goals, resolutions and intentions for what we want to achieve in our lives and our businesses. I hear a lot of people say that they don’t like to set resolutions or make too many goals because they never seem to stick to them. Ā The problem is that we often set these really big goals but don’t really break them down into activities, priorities or an action plan to reach them. Ā  It takes a lot more than just saying or even writing down a goal to manifest it.

“You can’t talk yourself out of a problem you behave yourself into.” – Stephen Covey

If you look up the word “resolution” in the dictionary you will find that is a form of the word “resolve”. Resolve means to deal with something successfully, to find an answer to, to reach a firm decision about, to declare or decide. Ā Interestingly enough, one of the synonyms for the word Ā “resolve” is the word “choose”.

“Being miserable is a habit. Being happy is a habit. The choice is yours.” – Tom Hopkins

When it comes down to it, everything in life is a choice or a result of a choice. We choose how we live our lives and what we do with our time. We choose whether we have a good attitude or a bad attitude. We choose how we react to stress, unexpected situations, failure and success. Ā Therefore, whether we reach our goals and achieve our resolutions all depends on our own choices that we make each and every day.

Here are 4 Ways to Make Sure you Reach your Goals this year:

1. Ā Declare it – Write your goals down, tell others about your goals, find someone to be an accountability partner to help encourage, challenge and motivate you to reach your goals. Ā Don’t keep your dreams to yourself. Writing them down on paper and sharing them with others makes them become real and tangible. Ā You can also create a Dream Board (or Vision Board) with pictures of things that represent your dreams and goals and your ideal life. Place it where you will see it every single day.

2. Decide on it – This sounds like common sense, but you have to truly decide and make the choice to go for your dream, goal or resolution. Just thinking or talking about what you want to accomplish is not going make anything happen.

3. Act on it – Once you have declared your goal and made the decision to truly go for it, you have to take the necessary steps and actions to reach that goal. These are usually daily actions, changes in routines, changes in your thought process, changes in your habits. Ā For instance, if your goal is to lose weight, you need to act on it by eating healthier foods and making time to exercise several times a week. Ā If your goal is to pay off 50% of your debt, then you need to act on it by keeping a budget, spending less money and not putting yourself in places where you are tempted to overspend.

4. Stagger your goals – Making changes can be difficult. Instead of trying to make several big life changes all at once, consider staggering your goals and resolutions over the next few months. Ā In January begin working towards one of your goals, then in February begin the next one, then the next in March & so on. Ā This will give you time to implement the necessary changes for one goal and to feel a sense of accomplishment which will motivate you to begin making more positive changes in your life. Ā Let’s face it, most of us are not strong enough to make several massive changes all at once.Ā Ease into your goals by staggering them and you will see much better results. Ā Plus having something new to work towards each month will help keep you on track, excited and motivated.

5. Keep taking the next, best step forward. Allow yourself to learn as you go, expect that there will be setbacks and challenges. Trust yourself to make the right decisions. . Adjust and update your goals and plans as necessary. Keep choosing to take the next best step forward.

“How you live your days is how you live your life.” -Anon.

I hope that helps you reach your goals and resolutions in the new year! Ā Feel free to share your thoughts, goals or resolutions in the comments below.Ā Ā 

  • Great tips. This year I am using my iphone to help me stay on track. I have set a reminder for each day of the week so I don’t forget to do certain tasks I feel will help me grow my business. I suppose my philosophy is that sticking to resolutions means forming new habits.

  • Having to really think about and decide and act on our goals and staggering them will set you up to succeeed And have your intentions really become a reality

  • I have a friend who compares goals to hygiene. He says it has to be so part of you, that if you don’t take steps towards your goals everyday, you feel weird. Same as with hygiene – it is something you pay attention to everyday. You can’t skip brushing your teeth for a week and on Saturday brushes for 3 hours. Goals is all about small disciplines practiced everyday.

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