3 Steps for your New Year's Resolutions

 

Every single year I find myself making a list of what I would like to accomplish the following year, you know… being a better person, exercising more, eating healthy food, etc. Unfortunately I find myself with the same list at the end of the year and my goals exactly how I left them: not accomplished.

And this had made me wonder... Is this only me or most of us are acting the same? Is this lack of commitment or is it just that daily life runs so fast that is difficult to keep track of our goals?

After  long consideration I came up with 3 steps that I hope will help me accomplish my goals

1. KEEP YOUR LIST ON SIGHT. We make this list at the beginning of the year and we storage it nicely in a drawer for the next 12 months. Instead, I will be putting mine in my refrigerator, in my laptop and in my walking closet since I visit these 3 places every single day more than once. This way I will be reading my goals several times during the day and I will remind myself what I want.

2. ONE DAY AT A TIME. Every time I do something that I know is not right -  for example drinking more than one cup of coffee during the day - , I justify myself saying " that's OK once in I while, it will be only today, I will make it up tomorrow". But what happens when you say this in a regular basis and that "only today thing" becomes an "every day thing"? After a while you end up far away from your goal and feeling defeated.

 I see it as the AA slogan says: ONE DAY AT A TIME, which means that every single day counts. When you start thinking like this, and most importantly applying this philosophy to your everyday life; you get a better chance to accomplish your goals since most of them need work and daily commitment.

3. RECOGNIZE AND CELEBRATE YOUR SUCCESS. I am a "checklist" type of person. I can't work efficiently without a list. It helps me organize myself and see what things I have been able to finish during the day; and my favorite part of the day is every time I finish a task being able to cross it in my list and writing an "OK" word next to it. This is like my little trophy, my moment of glory. It makes me feel empowered.

 So this year I have decided to start tracking the progress of my goals monthly and put an OK word each time I am able to actually eat healthy or exercise regularly instead of waiting to the end of the year. I think this recognition to my effort will help me motivate myself to keep doing it all year long.

Conclusion: do whatever you need to achieve your goals. I am sure these steps will help me stay focus and I hope they are useful for you too. However, if they are not, keep searching for your own tools , find whatever you need to keep yourself motivated and in the right track to become the person you want to be; because at the end of the day that’s all that matters.