Successful New Year's Resolution Writing

On this last day of 2015, I am contemplating why everyone makes New Year’s Resolutions but so few actually achieve them. Recent studies say that some where between 4 and 40 percent of all New Years Resolutions are achieved. Is is any wonder why most people give up? How would you like to look back on 2016 and be able to say that most, if not all, of your New Year’s Resolutions came true?

The primary reason that most people fail in their New Years’s Resolution’s is a simple one. They don’t write it down. My mother used to tell me that if something is not in writing it doesn’t exist. This could not be more appropriate for goal setting. The numbers are astonishing. Of the all the people who write down their resolutions, around 40 percent actually achieve them. Of the people that make resolutions that don’t write them down, around 4 percent are successful.

Goals and resolutions must be specific. Most people make resolutions for weight loss or finding a new job, but those are not specific enough. You need to be very specific in your phrasing. Instead of saying that you want to lose weight think about saying “ I want to lose 15 pounds” or “I want a new job with this company”

Goals and resolutions must have deadlines. As business guru Brian Tracy says “goals without deadlines are wishes” Make sure that your goals have a reasonable timeline. To state that you want to lose 25 pounds in a week is setting yourself up for failure. 

If you set reasonable, specific goals that have a deadline, you will have a happy and prosperous 2016

Happy New Year