It’s an ongoing joke that Valentine’s day marks the death of New Year’s Resolutions. There’s a lot of truth in that. Typically, resolutions are made in loose and vague terms, a nebulous approach to a change that you want to make at some point during the New Year. The reason why resolutions are so hard to stick by is that there is nothing there to hold on to, there is no plan. Thus, by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around, we’ve already lost our impetus.
This year set goals to make this your best year ever.
What’s the difference? A goal has two things a resolution does not have: They’re measurable, and they are specific. A resolution happens sometime this coming year. A goal has a date. Resolution wording is vague; a goal is specific.
Saying, “I want to lose weight” is a resolution. Saying “I will lose five pounds by the end of the month” is a goal. It’s measurable (5 pounds) and specific (by the end of the month).
Here’s how to make your New Year’s Goal:
1. Keep it S.M.A.R.T. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-sensitive. The vaguer the goal, the less likely it’s achievable. Keeping the SMART in your goals vastly enhance the possibility of success.
2. Get it in writing. It’s one thing to say, “I will learn a language by the end of the year,” but things spoken are soon forgotten. Typing it out on the computer is better. But actually, writing it out on a piece of paper takes a shortcut through the conscious and lodges the goal in the subconscious where habits and practices are born.
3. Don’t compare yourself to others. There is no one exactly like you, and your progress isn’t theirs. You don’t know the journey they have been on; it might have been very different from yours. Instead, compare where you are now to where you were a month or a year ago.
4. Embrace “failure.” When a child learns to walk, they fall. A lot. That is not a failure, it’s learning. A child learns to balance by overbalancing on one side or another to see how far they can go. When you’re trying to make a change, you will “fall” by occasionally retreating into old patterns of behavior. Accept that fact, pick yourself back up, and start again.
Make a New Year’s Goal this year. But make only one. Concentrate on that goal, and once you’ve mastered it, you can try another. By giving yourself the time and ability to succeed, you will set yourself up for your best year ever.
Sending love and light your way,
GiGi Diaz
✨#TheConsciousInfluencer
