How are you doing with your New Year's resolutions?
When January comes, we are full of life and good intentions! "This is the year I am going to exercise and lose weight! This is the year I will learn how to speak French! This is the year I will get an education! I will be less selfish, I will be kinder, I will serve more, I will be more patient etc." Does it ring a bell?
But time goes by, and by June, we have totally forgotten about our goals! To avoid guilt we tell ourselves that we will always have next year!
I don't blame you, I have been there! Changing and accomplishing our goals require effort and we have enough of feeling guilt! I have a friend that doesn't even set goals anymore because he is so discouraged. He reminds me of myself when I was a teenager. Spontaneous, carefree, living my life with no plans and trusting things will all work out, without, of course, me having to be involved and being actively engaged in what is going to happen in my life. No need to say I didn't accomplish much!
Living our life without a plan can be such a waste of time. Worse, it can leave us with a bitter sense of regression. Growth and progression are human core needs. When unmet, we may feel empty. The truth is that we are agents and we can act, plan, and improve ourselves and our situations. I read the other day that
It was a reminder that this is our life and we have the power to choose how to live it. We can choose what we want to accomplish and direct our lives, or govern our lives if you will, because it is a privilege given by God. We can build, we can grow, we can fly! The sky is the limit!
So I ask the question?
How are you doing with your 2025 New Year's resolutions?
Have you reached one of your goals yet? Well done if you have! Are you still working hard to accomplish your dreams? I congratulate you if you are.
If you aren't, and if you are discouraged, my message is for you.
Perhaps you haven't set SMART goals. Are your goals specific enough? Are they achievable? How do you measure your progress? What has been working so far? What obstacles have you met? What could you do differently to overcome these obstacles or challenges?
Perhaps you haven't heard that we increase our rate of achievement by about 40% when we write down our goals, by 60% when we write down and share our goals with others, and by 90% when we write down our goals, share them, and report our progress to someone else on a weekly basis (Matthews, 2007).
Or perhaps you just need a life coach? ;)
Reference
Matthews, G. (2007). The impact of commitment, accountability, and written goals on goal achievement.