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How often do you make all kinds of New Year’s resolutions, only to find that by about January 3rd you’ve forgotten about them? It’s because New Year’s resolutions aren’t plans, they’re not goals. They’re often just flippant, spur of the moment things you blurt out at the New Year’s eve party because everyone else is blurting out their’s. This article is about turning those drunken remarks into something more solid. A battle plan!
Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
You may not want to admit it, but I know you’ve done it. I know because I’ve done it. We’ve all done it. You get to the end of the year and somebody asks you:
Hey Charlie, what are your New Year’s resolutions this year?
Now, you haven’t really put much thought into it up till this point, so to keep yourself from looking like a complete moron you just say the first thing that pops into your head:
Erm, I’m gonna give up smoking, lose 20 kilos, and run a marathon.
Oh dear. Poor Charlie’s an overweight smoker who probably hasn’t done anything more physical than open a fridge door in the last twenty years, and one of his resolutions is to run a marathon in 2011. And that’s not the worst of his worries. He has absolutely no clue how he’s going to accomplish these things. He has no plan. Worse than that, he has no real desire. If truth be told, he only said what he said to his friend because he didn’t want his friend thinking he was strange or weird for not having any idea what he wanted for the coming year. So his friend didn’t find out that he didn’t have any goals.
Guess what, Charlie? You still don’t!
Why do New Year’s resolutions fail more often than not? Because they are not goals. It is as simple as that.
The Battle Plan
What I mean by turning your New Year’s resolutions into a battle plan is that you turn them into goals. SMART goals.
Do you remember “SMART goals”? Do you remember what it stands for? Here’s a super quick refresher just in case it has slipped your mind…
Specific — the goal must be specific, no generalities.
Measurable — if you can’t measure it how will you know when you’ve achieved it?
Attainable — if there’s no hope of getting there, don’t go after it.
Relevant — don’t chase other people’s goals.
Time-bound — it must have a time limit.
I’ve said this before (many times, but specifically in that article I linked to just up there), that a goal that isn’t written down is not a goal, it is just a dream.
In The Trenches
You absolutely MUST write down your goals. You also need to pay attention to how you go about that. You should state the goal positively (the last thing you need is negativity creeping into your goal setting). You should state is as if you have already achieved it (this forces your subconscious to help you)..
Next you want to think about and write down all of the possible obstacles you might face in getting to this goal. Now have a good think about how you’ll overcome each one of these obstacles, and write that down too! Are you getting a recurring theme here? Write it down!
Alright, now we’re getting into the nitty-gritty. You need to break your goal down into individual action steps. Write these down in the order they need to be done, and give each one a target date.
We are almost there! Gee you guys do great at this! I’m so proud of you. 
Now that you have put all this work into all of this, ask yourself this question: Is it worth the time, effort, and money to reach this goal? Answer it honestly because there is absolutely no point in chasing goals that, in your heart of hearts, you know aren’t really worth it.
You should now write some killer affirmations to support your goal.
The Secret Weapon
Would you like a secret weapon that will turn the job of goal setting into child’s play? If you followed the links I’ve mentioned in this article you may have already found it, but just in case you haven’t… Grab this:
At The Party
So this year, when you are at your New Year’s eve party and somebody asks you what your New Year’s resolutions are for next year. Tell them:
I resolve to achieve all of my 2011 goals!
Till next time…
Help me write more great articles like this, fuel my mojo with a coffee!
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Hey Steve,
Even thought it’s not 2011 just yet, I’m already busy developing some of the goals that I have in mind for it. I know that some of them may drop out as I go but that’s why I want to thrash around now to figure out what exactly I want 2011 to be.
A lot of it will be related to business, traveling and completing projects. I want to set specific time frames for them and just work my butt off to get them done – that’s the plan anyway, just gotta hash out the rest of it in the next few weeks so I have it ready to go
Murlu@Start an Online Business wrote: Eight Ingenious and Profitable Niche Site Ideas
Hi Murray!
It’s great to have you here! Welcome to one of my tiny pieces of the Internet.
Well it certainly sounds to me like you are going to make yourself one hell of an awesome 2011. Plan it out, write it down, get it done, mate.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment, Murray. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you back here again soon.
Kind regards,
Steve.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
“How often do you make all kinds of New Year’s resolutions, only to find that by about January 3rd you’ve forgotten about them?”
Uh… Every year
Great post, Steve. I think the best thing I got out of this post was to write down the obstacles you might face and how to overcome them. That’s some good stuff right there!
Nicely done! Now I need to go figure out what my 2011 goals are going to be…
Tristan wrote: The Life of a Full Time Blogger’s Girlfriend and Tips for Significant Others
Twitter: tristanhigbee
Hey Tristan!
Good to see you again, mate. As I was reading your comment my mind was skipping ahead trying to preempt your next words after what you quoted from me… I was sure you were gonna say:
Joking aside, dealing with the obstacles before they crop up is, as you say, good stuff. It can save you so much stress, worry, time (and money too). There’s a bonus there too… quite often, the sheer act of writing down an obstacle can eliminate it from becoming one. I think because you’ve made yourself think about it your subconscious will automatically come up with ways to deal with it. That doesn’t mean to say that if you write down the obstacles that your life will be rocketing to success, smooth sailing all the way. But at the absolute very least, you’ll be much better prepared for the bumps.
Thanks for commenting (and for the RT, too), Tristan. Always a pleasure.
Kind regards,
Steve
Oh! Almost forgot… since the last time you were here, mate, I’ve added KeywordLuv. Just mentioning it because I’ve noticed that you use it when commenting on other blogs and I figured you didn’t here simply because you weren’t used to having the option.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
A Sure-Fire Way Of Keeping To Your New Year's Resolutions at Steve Youngs dot Com…
How often do you make all kinds of New Year’s resolutions, only to find that by about January 3rd you’ve forgotten about them? It’s because New Year’s resolutions aren’t plans, they’re not……
Hello Steve,
Love to read light and refreshing post like this that perfectly fits the season. Yes a lot of times, we have new year’s resolution that we forget about after the celebration is over. I agree when you said that resolutions are actually goals and not plans so we must really focus and better to write down the things you need to do in order to reach that goal for the year.
Thanks for sharing,
Ana
Twitter: WebTrafficCafe
Hi Ana!
If you are wondering why I took your keywords off of your comment, it was because you didn’t include a URL. Without a URL, using KeywordLuv is pointless. If you tell me what URL you want to link to I’ll re-edit your comment and put the keywords back in for you.
Now, with that out of the way… Welcome to one of my little bits of the Internet, Ana. It’s wonderful to have you here.
I’m very happy you enjoyed my article, Ana. Thank you very much for stopping by and leaving a comment. I hope I’ll see you back here again, soon.
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Disregard what I was saying about your keywordluv. I was able to figure out your URL.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Did I mess it up somehow?
Twitter: WebTrafficCafe
You just forgot to fill in the URL field, that’s all.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Ana, I forgot to mention… Aksimet seems to not like you very much… keeps putting you in the spam bin.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Hey Steve.
Great action plan dude, I like the idea of attaching affirmations to goals too.
There is one thing that seriously grinds my gears about new years resolutions. Now, I think there is a difference between goals and resolutions. I understand setting goals at the start of a calander year makes sense, but resolutions? resolutions can be perfomed any time? Why wait untill december 31st to lose weight or stop smoking? If you are that pumped and serious about it START now, [ Rant Over]
bLAZE yOUR tRAIL
Ryan Renfrew @LifestyleDesign wrote: Part 4 of The No Bullshit Secrets to Stratospheric Success – The Law Of Authenticity
Twitter: RyanRenfrew
Hey Ryan!
You’re absolutely right, mate. And you may feel free to rant whenever you like, mate.
Glad you liked the article, and action plan. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Ryan. You rock!
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Honestly I havent thought much about 2011. I have seen a lot of people on Twitter for instance saying ‘Oh my gosh 2011 will be the year for my blog/site, big changes,etc’.
If I do have a goal though is to make my site bigger than it currently is
Edwin@Computer Tips wrote: How To Make An Image Transparent
Hi Edwin!
Great to see you back again, mate.
Ah, no, unless you’ve written it down, including specific action steps you need to take to get there, with dates for completion, and measurements of some kind, then you don’t have a goal. You have a dream or a hope. But nothing more.
I’m not saying that your site won’t grow next year, in fact I’m certain that it will. But with time and effort spent on planning, setting realistic goals, and working hard to achieve them… Then with that, you may very well grow it even bigger.
I wish you the very best for 2011, Edwin, and thank you so very much for taking the time to visit here and comment. I really do appreciate that.
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs
YOU make a great point. SOOOO many people fail on their new year goals. Some might actually make it to January 10th, though.
The SMART way of doing things is great. It all comes down to the fact that without actionable steps and a specific goal all you have is a dream tha is never likely to be accomplished. When people make actionable steps and a goal that is achievable, it is so much easier for them to be able to achieve success
Steve@Internet Lifestyle wrote: The Art of Completing Internet Marketing Projects
Twitter: stevescott1
Hi Steve!
You’re absolutely right, mate. Oh, and I apologise for being a little harsh on those oh-so-motivated folks who make it all the way to Jan 10th.
Thanks very much for stopping by and commenting, Steve. It’s always a great pleasure to see you here.
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Hi Steve,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m a big believer in having goals and writing them down. And that should always include the “how” I’m going to achieve it.
I don’t plan my 2011 or make resolutions at New Year’s though, because that’s what everyone else does. Lol – a little bit of rebel in me. I’ll do it later in Janurary on my own terms. Ha!
Peggy
Twitter: pegbaron
Hi Peggy!
Haha! I love it! Doing things on your own terms is awesome, Peggy. Keep it up!
Thanks so much for taking the time to visit and leave a comment. You rock!
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Hey Steve, this is really great article, especially SMART. Many thanks. Lukasz from …Poland
.
Hi Lukasz
Thanks very much for commenting, mate. Really appreciate that. Though, I would have thought that a “copywriter” might have left something with a little more content/value. LOL
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs