New Year’s Resolutions and You

Many of you have already abandoned your New Year’s Resolution. That was not unpredictable. Here are two reasons why New Year’s Resolutions fail.

Reason No. 1: Lack of Accountability

First of all you do not have anybody who is holding you accountable. Within days you start to waiver on your commitment. That is perfectly understandable. You have introduced change into your life. Change is disruptive.

Your brain starts challenging your resolution decision almost immediately. It is trying to maintain the patterns you have already established for it. Now you are attempting to re-wire it.

On top of that most of the time you don’t even share your resolution with anyone. You keep it to yourself because you start by doubting you can keep the resolution and don’t want anybody else to know you failed at it.

The solution here is to have a coach. A coach serves to keep you accountable. A coach will help you live up to the promise you have made tom yourself.

I coach business owners. I don’t, however, coach people about keeping New Year’s Resolutions. But there are many fine coaches available that will keep you accountable and help you be successful. If you can’t find one, contact me and I will give you a referral.

Reason No. 2: No Stated Goal

Most New Year’s resolutions do not have a definite, measurable goal. For instance, “I will go to the gym three times a week” does not really have a goal other than being in the gym three times a week.

It would be more effective to resolve to go to the gym three times a week in order to lose 5 pounds. Better yet you could set a number of pounds to lose by a certain date. That way you remember why it is you want to go to the gym three times a week.

Goals are important. Without a specific goal you have no way to measure your progress. And the brain needs to know it is making progress. It needs the rewards that go with achievement. Even the smallest achievement causes the brain to release chemicals that make you feel good. That results in giving you an extra boost of motivation.

This is something I do stress with my coaching clients. Establish a specific goal. Set a time limit for achieving that goal. Establish specific dates along the way so we can measure our success and reward ourselves because we are going to achieve that goal.

If your New Years resolution has already fallen by the wayside, start over. Your resolution was a good idea. Don’t abandon it just because you didn’t follow through the first time.

Get someone to keep you accountable, set a specific goal and you will achieve it.