It's that time of year again when everyone is contemplating on the past and dreaming for the future. Making goals is a traditional part of the New Year and I think that's a wonderful thing! Unfortunately, many people don't believe that they can keep their New Year's Resolutions for more than a week or two. If you are one of those people, than this is for you! There are a few things that people do that make it extremely difficult to keep those initial goals. I've failed enough times to know what doesn't work. I've also seen enough successes in my life to feel confident in sharing with you four simple steps that can help any person reach their goals.
1) WRITE THEM DOWN!
If you don't write your goals down, how will you remember them? It's so nice having a physical and visual reminder of the things I'd like to do and become. At the end of December each year, I sit down and think about what I'd like the next year to look like. With a pencil and some paper stapled together, I write down my goals on the front page. (Keep reading to find out what happens with the other pages! ;))
2) MAKE THEM SPECIFIC AND MEASURABLE!
There are probably many things you would like to do, but having a goal to travel isn't going to do much. Travelling is a great dream, but without a specific goal that can be measured and planned, it will remain just a dream. Last year, I had a goal to drink more water. Staying hydrated is a great thing, but writing down drink more water on a piece of paper wasn't going to make much of a difference in my life. How much more water? For how long? What is the threshold for which I can stop drinking more water? Leaving that goal as it was, there was no way of knowing if I had reached it. It was too broad and too difficult to measure.
Now if I had kept that same broad idea in mind but tweaked it a bit, my new goal could have been to drink three bottles of water per day. That is specific to staying hydrated and can easily be kept track of.
3) HAVE A PLAN!
One of my favorite quotes says, "A goal without a plan is just a wish." I've found this to be true through personal experience! Another goal that I had last year was to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish. This was a great undertaking seeing as how I'm nowhere near fluent in the language. I had started it previously thinking that I would just read it whenever, but I ended up quitting after a day or two. It took many months for me to pick it back up again. This time I had selected a specific date that I wanted to have it done by. I then figured out how many pages I would need to read daily in order to make it happen. I wrote all this information down and then I made it happen!
Those other pages in my stapled paper packet are for plans. Each goal is rewritten with enough space below to record the HOW to reach each goal. That record of plans made helps immensely in keeping track of where I am and where I want to be.
4) STAY POSITIVE AND ALWAYS START AGAIN!
Many people go into the New Year with an attitude that their resolutions won't last very long. I would have to agree with those people. You can't expect to succeed at something when you set yourself up for failure. And starting with an 'I can't' attitude is definitely a set up for failure. Believing you can do something is the first step. Being diligent in your goals is super difficult, but you CAN do it! As Rex from Toy Story once said, "You just need to believe in yourself!"
Always always always start again! This is one of the biggest things that stops people from reaching their goals. Sure, you might fail at your goal on day three, but by starting again on day four you get a fresh beginning! If we were all perfect at our goals, they wouldn't be goals; they'd be habits. Mistakes happen and consistency isn't always quite as consistent as desired, but that is exactly why we always need to start again!
I hope this New Year's you have the confidence and gusto to make some goals that you plan to keep. Even more than that, I hope you keep them! I believe in you and hope in all sincerity that these steps will be beneficial to you in your endeavors. Let me know what goals you're making this year down in the comment section.
Happy New Year's and have a blessed week y'all!
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