Tuesday, January 10, 2017

New Year's Resolution Tips

The other day a friend of mine asked me for advice in setting New Year’s goals. This post is what I wrote in response. I’m a big fan goals setting. I’ve done quite a bit of research on how to set and achieve goals. I thought my response might help other people, so here it is: Tips for setting New Year’s goals: 1) Before setting New Years goals, you have to clear yourself from all the baggage from the previous year. I went to a seminar about this years ago and found it very liberating. Write down a list of things you accomplished from 2016 and a list of things you wanted to have happen, but didn't accomplish. Also, write a list of people you need to thank for their love, commitment, and support as well as a list of people you need to forgive. If you can, communicate and express your gratitude or forgiveness to those individuals. I know this seems like an extra bunch of junk. But, I think that this is where a lot of people go wrong in setting New Year’s resolutions. They have so much baggage from the year before that they are carrying around, that it becomes a weight that keeps them from moving forward and creating the life they want. 2.) In order to create goals for the new year, you have to have a much bigger vision than the next few months. My favorite psalm is the one that says, "Without vision, people perish." Before I write my New Year’s goals, I write a vision of what the ideal life would look like ten years from now, five years from now, and one year from now. Dream big! I write my ten year, five year, and one year vision like a story that already happened. There's a scripture in the Book of Mormon that says, in summary, they lived as if Christ had already come. Therefore live as if your highest desires have already happened. I remember the first time I wrote long term visions for a New Year’s activity. I learned that the goals I was planning to set for the year were way off course from my bigger picture, and it helped me feel a greater sense of purpose in the goals I created for myself. 3.) Setting goals is more about the journey than it is about the outcome. Once again, don't be hesitant to dream big. I have been told you should be failing at about 50% of the goals you set. If not, you’re not stretching yourself enough. Goals are not about what you accomplish. It's about who you become along the way. I suggest writing goals the Stephen Covey way. I usual put my goals under 5 categories: physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual. I also write a character goal of an attribute I want to develop through the year. For example, compassion, faith, gratitude. Focusing on character growth helps me to feel accomplished in the goals I strive to achieve, regardless of the whether or not I achieve them. 4.) Before embarking a on new goal, it is important to analyze what sacrifices, risks, and challenges you might face when choosing that goal. I read an article most recently that counseled people instead of asking, “What do I want to achieve,” ask, “How much pain am I willing to suffer?” The sacrifice might come in terms of sleep, money, physical pain, or social/emotional risks. Stephen Covey calls this “counting the costs,” or in other words, analyzing the risks and challenges of setting goals to ensure it’s one you really want to set out to accomplish. Doing this helps me to stay in the zone of what I am capable and willing to accomplish, so that I am more likely to make my goals a reality. If you can say after counting the costs, “I want it,” then you are setting yourself up for success! 5.) Put your goals and visions somewhere where you can see them. I have a vision board in my room right next to my door. It's a quark board about 2'X4' that has pictures and slogans of the things I want to accomplish. As soon as I accomplish a goal, I take it down and replace it with a new goal. Some goals have been on there for years, like receiving master's degree or a picture of a couple with a list of qualities I want in the person I marry. Some only stay up for a month or two. I put the vision board next to my door because I can look at it every day and remind myself of who I want to become and what I hope to accomplish. I ask myself throughout the week, "What is one thing I can do today to help me work towards accomplishing one of the goals on my vision board?" Then, as I go through my day, I seek to accomplish that smaller goal. My vision board is my biggest helper at setting smaller daily goals and staying on coarse with the bigger picture of where I want to go and who I want to become. Well, that’s about it. Happy New Year! Thanks for reading!

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