I hope you all managed to survive the holiday period and are all revved up and ready for the New Year. I suppose a lot of us will be making (or at least thinking about making) New Year resolutions. There are various theories as to why they work or don’t work. I’ve been thinking about it and have come across various ‘helping-hands’ here and there. I hope some of the following will be of use to use in helping you stick to your resolutions.
Here are ten reasons why 90% of people fail to keep their resolutions:
1 – Not writing resolutions down on paper
2 – Procrastination
3 – Going it alone
4 – Not enough knowledge to map a plan
5 – Lack of focus
6 – Discouragement
7 – Those inevitable obstacles
8 – Too vague
9 – Laziness
10 – Emphasis on negatives, not positives
All fairly self-explanatory but worth thinking a little further about all the same, don’t you think?
Don’t be someone who thinks this: lol
“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.”
Relying upon will power, resolve and persistence is absolutely the worst way to achieve your new goals. These things are controlled by your conscious mind, which is responsible for only about 2-4 percent of your day-to-day actions and perceptions – John Assaraf
I don’t remember where I found this but it’s worth thinking about too, right?
The reason most resolutions don’t work is that they address only one level of your life. The DO level. It’s the DO-HAVE-BE model. “I will DO this thing.” (i.e., Lose weight) “So I can HAVE this other thing” (Self-Esteem) and I can BE this thing. (Confident.)
The average New Year’s Resolution doesn’t address the core of the issue – the “BE” level.
The best order for creating positive changes in your life is the BE-DO-HAVE model. This means you start from the BE level. When you begin changing on the BE level of your life, then the DO level and the HAVE level follow more easily.
When you start only on the DO level, then all the blocks on the BE level will often become the obstacles you can’t overcome.
Christine Kane is a Indie artist who is also a creative consultant and her advice for the New Year is to pick a word to help guide you through the year. Now, that’s not too hard for you, is it?? lol Here’s a few words from her.
Let’s say you are one of the many people who would normally choose “Get Organized.” You look around to see clutter and crap all over your life. You’re tired of the chaos. So, you think, “I need to get organized. That should be my resolution this year.”
You sit with your clutter. You spend a few days pondering words that will inspire you. You realize in an “Ah-Ha!” moment that you tend to cling to lots of things. You’re scared to let go. So you choose the word “Release” because it inspires you in a bigger way than “Get organized.”
So, every time you approach your clutter you remind yourself of that word. “Release,” you say softly. You start to let the clutter go. Eventually, you realize that you’re still holding on to lots more than just physical clutter. You realize that you hold onto resentment at old relationships. “Release,” you remind yourself. You realize that holding on is affecting your diet and health. “Release” applies to some of the extra weight you’ve gained as well. Throughout the year, you can see clearly how much you hold on. “Release” is your touchstone. It grows you throughout the year. It becomes your guiding force, not your harsh standard.
Your clutter became your teacher simply because you shifted your intent towards it. This wouldn’t have happened if you’d opted only to “Get Organized.”
I think my ‘guide word’ is going to be “gratitude”. It’s amazing how many things you can be truly grateful for if you just stop to think about it!