Was one of your New Year‘s resolution to lose weight, eat
healthier, or get more exercise? Ok great - now you’ve resolved to do this but
how are you going to actually achieve your goal? Research shows that only about
8% of people achieve their New Year’s resolution goals. Science has been
studying why we make these resolutions, but more importantly how we can keep
them. Here are some points to focus on in attaining your goal.
- Identify your ONE Thing.
- Get clarity around your purpose.
- Build productive habits into your daily life that empower you.
- Protect your ONE Thing time.
Keep it Simple
The average person has a busy life, with competing
priorities, so keeping resolutions short and simple provide a better
opportunity for success. It’s exciting and uplifting to set ambitious
resolutions, but our excietment fades quickly as we get back to our daily grind.
Keeping the goals rational with achievable metrics is a design for lasting
results. Whittle your New Year's goals down to a simple and succinct vision
statement. Then ask yourself: “What’s the ONE Thing you can do such
that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”* This will help you bring into focus your actions that will help you to reach your goal. As an example: “What’s the ONE
thing that I can do (today) to lose weight (this year), such that by doing it
everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
Become Single-Minded
Become single minded, focus on purpose, and priority. Often
we fail because we are trying to do too much too fast. Start slow and don’t let
failure or a setback keep you from reaching your goal. The Mayo Clinic suggests
using what they call the yes-to-stress ratio to determine if committing to
something is going to overextend you and ultimately lead to stress.
Establish Accountability
Find a weight loss or exercise partner. It’s easier to get
up earlier and go workout if you have a buddy to do it with. This is the person
that you will be able to turn to when you are losing steam or facing a setback,
or that will cheer you on.
Protect Your Goal
We all want to more in our life, which usually ends up
meaning more things to do. There will be times that you will be faced with the
challenge of cutting out an activity for achieving your goal, in order to attend to
another task. There will be times that you will need to say no, don’t let
it be the activity that is part of attaining your goal. It’s easy to cut the
workout short for something in another area of your life that needs tending to.
Be creative with your scheduling don’t rule out getting up earlier, or cutting
out the stop at Starbucks before work. Only the ability to dismiss distractions
and concentrate on your ONE Thing stands between you and your goals.
Make it Fun
If losing weight isn’t your passion in life, then making it
fun well keep you on the road to success. Research and prepare some quick light
great tasting meals. Sign up with a friend for a foot race, then you have a
reason to workout. Buy a fitness tracker wristband. Nike is the leader in this
area with its Fuelband
lineup, Fitbit and Jawbone are great fun trackers that give you Fuel points for
all types of activities. It’s fun to track the activities everything from
walking around the kitchen to bike riding.
You are on your way to attaining success in you New Year’s resolution
goals! These principles of success came from Gary Keller’s The ONE Thing book, which can be applied
to any goal setting in your life.
