When it comes to New Year’s Resolutions, it is really easy to criticise certain goals made and try and hand out some generic tips. But I don’t want to do that I want to give you guys an understanding of what you need to think about and where you need to be with your mind-set when it comes to setting your New Year’s Resolutions.
There are lots of people out there that set New Year’s Resolutions, but are you doing it for the right reasons?
Are you going about making a REAL CHANGE in the right way?
Are you ready to make a REAL CHANGE in 2016?
Change
In this instance, when we talk about change, we mean an alteration of your habits or behaviours which have a given result.
Lots of us want to lose weight/fat, or increase our monthly income. We could even be looking to quit smoking, or alcohol. But this doesn’t just happen by itself, we have to make certain changes to our habits and behaviours in order for these things to happen.
For example, we can’t just lose fat because we want to; all we can do is change our behaviours from those which cause fat gain and retention, to be more along the lines of habits and behaviours which promote fat loss.
This means we need to start making changes like eating better (or just less). We may need to do more exercise, and we may need to assess other areas of our life such as time management.
By making these changes and improving our habits, then we will have changed our behaviour –with fat loss being the result of these changes.
When it boils down to it, the final goal which we want to achieve in the future is the result of a series of actions which we can take NOW, and if you are wanting to make a large change, these are the terms you need to think in.
If we want to lose fat or gain muscle, get a handle on our alcohol intake or do ANYTHING which people commonly promise themselves come January 1st, we need to change the behaviours we have which are leading away from this goal – and to do that we need to find a way to make it important.
How Do We Make This Change?
Honestly, so many New Year’s Resolutions fall flat. The reason why? They fall flat because some people don’t really want to change in the first place when they set the goal; many people are not READY to change and therefore it’s unrealistic to expect them to commit to doing so.
Most goals which people set are externally motivated, meaning that it’s not really their goal in the first place.
You hear people all the time say they will give up chocolate every year. But they only do this because everyone else is doing it. This type of external motivation means there is no real personal connection with this goal, it doesn’t mean that much to them to achieve it. Low and behold you often therefore see these people opening their Cadbury’s selection box on New Year’s Day.
Once you know that the pain which you will feel if you do not NOT reach your goal exceeds the pain which you think you are going to feel trying to achieve your goal, then you are ready to change.
If the prospect of not achieving your goal causes you no pain and disappointment, then you’re not going to be willing to go that extra mile and go out of your comfort one to reach it. So we need to find out – what is causing you pain?
Think now, about a goal you are considering for 2016. Really think about it.
We need to focus on the thing which you want rid of RIGHT NOW. The thing which causes you some degree of pain, and must therefore be changed in order for you to be happier.
Making these kinds of changes is not always easy and straightforward, and you may be worried that changing may potentially be difficult. But think about it, if you are unhappy NOW, that will not change unless you do something about it.
Once you have found this pain point, use it. You may need to start to be more active, which means sacrificing free time, relaxation and perhaps money. This may be a bit painful to do, but it pales into insignificance in comparison to the pain that you know you are feeling now. Furthermore, once you have found this pain point and identified the reason, the core belief which has led you to decide you need to change an aspect of your life, you don’t need motivation, because you actually want to do what you set out to.
Start Now!!
What we know now is that when you have a goal, it is your goal because on some level you know that any other alternative is causing you to be unhappy – or at least not as happy as you could be.
If someone offered you a ticket to more happiness I am pretty sure you wouldn’t want to wait until a random date before taking it.
So to make a change in 2016, start to alter your habits NOW.
I am not saying you have to try and do it all in one fell swoop because these things take time. Plus, even though we may not want it to, Christmas DOES have an impact on the amount of control you have over the finer aspects of your life.
Money is spent, alcohol is consumed, food is in abundance and sleep is occasionally cast to the wayside. The festive season WILL make it harder, but there is some progress which can still be made:
- Could you drink more water every day, in spite of the festivities leading up to 2016?
- Could you maybe try to eat an extra serving of vegetables every day?
- Could you go to bed 30 minutes earlier on days where you aren’t kept away from home due to social occasions?
Small steps.
But steps nonetheless.
The combination of a multitude of little habits like these which will take you closer to your ultimate goal.
If you really do have a goal, if you really want to achieve something, then what is the harm in starting NOW. If something is causing you pain on any level, then it doesn’t make any sense to wait before making it stop.
2016 could be an awesome year; it WILL be an awesome year. Hell, it could even be YOUR year – but it’s only got that potential if you start to take the steps to make it so.
2016 isn’t special, it’s not unique, it’s just a period of time like any other.
Making it incredible comes down to you. Start now.