Are you setting New Year Resolutions? Don’t.
“But Chris, it’s important to set goals! You always say so yourself!” Yes, goals are critical to translating dreams to reality. But if you are waiting for the New Year to set goals, you’ll see them fall through like most do year after year.
When you set goals for an entire year, you end up setting unrealistic goals without specific deadlines. That is simply a recipe for failure.
You should constantly have goals that you’re conquering and replacing with new ones. It’s good to set deadlines of when you’d like to achieve certain goals and then break your goals into steps to really get into specifics.
If you want to lose 10 pounds, don’t say “I’m going to lose 10 pounds in 2018.” That’s too generic. Say “I’m going to lose 10 pounds in the next 5 months.” That’s only 2 pounds you need to lose a month, which seems more realistic, right? Now that you’ve reframed the daunting task of losing 10 WHOLE POUNDS into losing 2 pounds a month, it doesn’t seem that hard.
Take it a step further.
To continue with the weight loss example, come up with a meal plan or find one online to hold yourself to. Meal prep on the weekend to make sure you always have a fridge full of healthy meals and don’t get tempted to order pizza twice a week.
I personally use a white board to keep track of everything I’m working on as well as the steps I need to accomplish to push each thing forward. I recommend getting one like this on Amazon or checking sales locally through platforms like Facebook Marketplace or Letgo to snag for a good deal.
I got the below whiteboard with markers and all for just $10! It was brand new and only had a slight ding on it, hence the great price. I plan on setting up an office in my house with this board on the wall so I can constantly see my goals, cross them off the list once complete, and add new ones as needed.
A good planner can also be helpful in keeping tabs on all your to-do’s on a certain day. There’s just nothing quite like physically crossing things off a list. I have used apps such as Wunderlist which can work great, but as you know, a message pops up at the top of your screen and quickly distracts you. Then you forget what you were on your phone to do to begin with. For this reason I think a separate, pen and paper method can be useful. Here’s a 2018 planner to consider getting.
What’s the point of my post?
So the point of this post is to tell you that you shouldn’t set New Year Resolutions. You should constantly set goals and update your list as you crush them. Like Matthew McConaughey says in his Best Actor speech, “My hero is me in 10 years.” Always strive to be better. Push yourself every day to be a better you. Now go out there, and start crushing your goals. Don’t wait “until the New Year.” Start TODAY.
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Chris Bello
Entrepreneur Motivation Podcast on Facebook
