Here is a recent article that appeared at Yahoo
News and other media outlets that I think you will
find helpful.
"You can forget about making New Year's
Resolutions if you're hoping for a successful
outcome. Most aren't
worth the paper they're written on," says Vic
Johnson, a leading goal setting and motivation
expert.
Most New Year's Resolutions have gone by the
wayside before January is over and most won't
even
be remembered six months later. And the reason is
pretty simple. Most are made in response to
something negative; a habit or situation that the
person wants to change or end.
And therein lies the
problem - it's hard to develop momentum from a
negative response. It is always easier to move
toward something than away from something.
Consider one of the most adopted goals ---
weight
loss. No one can get excited about losing
weight - it
requires deprivation. It's a negative response to
concerns about appearance, health, etc. The results
of weight loss New Year's Resolutions demonstrate
their weakness.
A 1998 survey sponsored by
Gardenburger found that more than three-fourths of
all women between the ages of 25 and 54 make diet
and weight-loss plans each year. Nearly nine of
10 respondents reported only occasional or no
success, while almost half lost little or actually gained
weight instead.
"The people who succeed at losing weight and
maintaining the loss have usually been motivated by
a dream much bigger and more positive than just
losing weight," explains Johnson. "They see
themselves living a healthy lifestyle. They begin to
act and think like people who are in good physical
shape. There's more of a radical change in a person's
thinking and actions than you see with most
resolutions.
It wouldn't be possible to effect and
sustain such a radical change unless the person
is
motivated by a big dream that is positive in nature."
Another popular aim is to quit smoking.
Johnson himself was a three-pack-a-day smoker until
he celebrated a smoke-free New Year's eleven years
ago. "For over twenty years I had tried to quit many
times using every tool and technique I'd hear about.
But as long as I was trying to quit, I couldn't break
the grip.
Instead, I developed a dream to become a
non-smoker. I fell in love with the idea of
breathing clean air instead of smoky air, of my body
and clothes smelling nice instead of smoky. I thought
about how wonderful it would be to taste food again.
I decided to start acting and thinking like a non-
smoker, and when the thinking took hold I simply
quit smoking. In all the years since, I've never
wanted another cigarette, never even thought about
wanting one."
According to Johnson, the best goal to set is one
that calls for the individual to create a plan for their
life based on a set of personal dreams. "Most
people are in a free-fall through life, careening from
one crisis to the next. If you were going to build a
new house and you had this idea for a fabulous
master bedroom suite, you wouldn't rush out and
start building the master bedroom. You'd have a
complete plan before you started.
When you approach resolutions and goals in the
same manner, you end up with a much better
chance of achieving success."
Don't Give Up!
Its only natural that you will get discouraged from
time to time, and may even start to doubt yourself.
That is just natural and human nature. To every
force in one direction, there is an equal but opposite
force on the other side according to Newton's Law!
You will have a tendency to procrastinate, be
side-tracked or have a clutter of other things to
accomplish. Sure - but persevere and don't'
stop! One step at a time, keep moving relentlessly
towards your goals.
Fear of failure is the reason many people do not
set goals. Shakespeare wrote,
"Our doubts are traitors
and they stop us
from getting the good we oft might win
by
fearing to attempt".
The only true failure is to not attempt to try new
things and to set new goals! If you do not attempt,
you just won't get the successes.
And if you try and only partly succeed, you
still are a success, because you will have achieved
more than you've got right now.
So begin to work on your goals for 2005!
Take heart from Goethe who said,
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do
begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in
it.
Begin it NOW!"
Once you accomplish your goals you'll discover
more confidence and feel more empowered. Now
isn't that worth it as that's your very special gift to
yourself in the New Year!
