Write Your Resolutions on Your Forehead!

This can go down one of three ways: (1) Resolutions are a waste of time, why bother (2) Resolutions are a great conversation starter at a new years party, the grander, more outlandish the better (3) Resolutions are an awesome way to make life improvements, after all, who wants to stagnate.

It’s not the setting of the resolutions that’s problematic, it’s more the way we set them. I alluded in my post, Only Read This if You want to Achieve Something, how thinking of and setting lofty goals the night before the first day of the next year never really results in anything. By the time the hangover wears off we have no clue what was said, done or promised and frankly we really don’t care.

If you are going down the path of resolutions being awesome ways to make life improvements, here are some helpful hints that can make your resolutions achievable:

1. Make concrete goals. Somehow it’s acceptable to make resolutions like, I want to lose weight, but yet we never set appointments by saying, I want to see you. The first is perfectly acceptable and everyone seems to understand exactly how it will be met, yet we demand more details with the second. When are we going to meet, where, who else should we invite? Why not apply the same method to setting our goals. Lose how much weight, over what period of time and how?
2. Write your resolutions down. I once passed over a piece of paper to a friend of mine who was telling me her resolutions and  she had the hardest time putting them on paper. Writing things down requires a lot more thought. As she was writing she started revising and clarifying what she really wanted to do.
3. Write your resolutions on your forehead! If you keep them to yourself, you’ll be the only one that ever knows you didn’t succeed. Making your resolutions publicly known gives them a burst of life as you publicly, if only with your friends, let someone know what you are going to achieve. You will also have the added benefits of being held accountable.
4. Don’t go it alone. It’s hard to make meaningful changes. Even if we break down the goal of losing weight into concrete steps, it still requires some real effort to make the necessary changes. Take along some friends for the ride. Build in the new goal into your calendar and see if a friend will come with you. You will be surprised that someone else might have the same goal and would be happy for your support.