Forget New Year Resolutions, Focus on this instead

Most people don’t get to achieve most of what they set out to do in the year. You are not alone. Studies show that resolutions begin to drop off after a week and only about 40% of those who made resolutions actually stick to their goals. University of Scranton study found out that only eight percent of Americans actually follow through and achieve their goals.

That could apply to a lot of people from different parts of the world. People just forget about most things on their lists and focus on something else. Experts say the reason for these failures is that many of us lack the proper structure to support the behavioural changes our new goals require.

The new habits you need to build to stick to your goals are just difficult to start and maintain. But if you really put your mind to it you can get something significant done.These are a few things you can do or you should start doing to make your year a success.

— What is the one thing you really want to do?

Focus on spending time on your most important items on your list. It has to be a make or break item. Something you can actually achieve and celebrate when it’s done.

Commit your most time to actually doing it. Break it down into smaller tasks that can be achieved every week. With most endeavors, you either go deep and get it done or don’t even start at all.

— Don’t write out your resolutions with no deadlines.

Instead of writing lots of goals to achieve, focus on the process that actually gets you closer to your goals. When you focus on the real process or the tasks that need to be done and put timelines to them, you are more likely to get things done by the date you intend to get them done.

Put timelines to the each task and give yourself a deadline to get those tasks done. Focus on getting those done on time. Once you are able to achieve that, you will be motivated enough to plan ahead or focus on something else that needs to be done in the year.

— Knowing what to do is not an issue, COMMITTING to it is the problem!

It is always easier written than done. Everybody can complete a list of things to do in no time, but finding time to actually do what you have to do it always the problem. To overcome that, be prepared to do ALL the work it takes to keep your resolutions.

You will be in better shape with lots of confidence about your capabilities if you know you actually gets things done when you say you will get them done.For every resolution in your list, make a list of tasks that go with it and specify the month you want to get it done.

If it’s something you want to start immediately like exercising regularly, make that first commitment and reward yourself when you actually start. Find a partner if you intend to stick to it for a long time. You are more likely to commit to something than needs to be done weekly if you have someone checking on you and helping you achieve it.

— Stick to goals you can actually achieve.

Keep your goals insanely simple.You cannot go mountain climbing if you cannot even walk a few miles in your neighborhood. Think about it, you won’t be able to achieve a resolution like that. Start small and build on your progress.

Most resolutions are just unrealistic considering your present situation. Stick to what you will be able to do and get those done. You may not be able to write a bestselling novel or loose hundreds of pounds in body weight in a few months, don’t set yourself up for failure with unrealistic goals.

— Celebrate progress and keep refining toward a happy productive year.

There is no need to beat yourself up if you can’t do all the things you want because you are handling other stuff that needs attention. It happens. Your world won’t come to an end in most cases just because you couldn’t accomplish your new year resolutions.

— Use your favourite productivity app to help you get stuff done.

There are now hundreds of personal productivity apps out there designed to help you remember all the tasks you want to-do and make sure you get them done.

Make a choice about the activities you want to improve in your life this year and use apps like Any.Do, Remember the milk, Clear, Evernote, Cal, Sunrise, Google Keep etc. to get focused on what needs to be done today or this week.

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Esdras Malbranche

Co-Founder at Carry-it