Create solid New Year’s resolutions in 4 simple steps

Take a look at my quick tip video for preparing your New Year’s resolution.

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Do you know that 92% of people who set new year’s resolutions have forgotten all about them by March of the new year?  I’d like to make sure that you won’t be one of these people in 2020!

As a life coach and positive parenting trainer, I help many clients achieve their New Year’s resolutions and goals. I’ve found that helping clients clearly define their goals is a powerful way to help them achieve the things they want in life. You see, when you write goals, you actually decide on the outcomes you want. Your clearly defined outcomes then become a very strong motivator and guiding force in getting you to where you want to go.

Below are 4 easy steps to help you successfully write your goals.

1.   Write your goals down and make sure you use positive language

Written goals make it easier to focus on your desired outcomes as they are clear and concise.  Written goals are much easier to track than ones that are floating around in your head. There will be no confusion about the outcomes you are aiming for.

When you write your goals, make sure you use the SMART goal setting system.   SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely.

To make your goals more powerful, write them down and make sure you focus on what you actually want rather than what you don’t want.  So instead of saying “I don’t want to get into more debt in 2020”, replace it with “I will have paid off all my debts by June 2020” or “I want to have $10,000 savings in the bank by December 2020”.

When I help my clients write goals we use a simple table with two columns, one is called ‘Goal’ and the second column is called ‘Completion Date’.

For example:  Goal: Replace old deck             Completion Date: July 2020.

2.   Prioritise your goals

Now that you’ve written down everything you want to achieve in 2020, it’s time to figure out where you’re going to start.  To avoid unnecessarily scattering your focus and effort, choose 3 top priority goals to initially work towards.  As you achieve each one of your chosen goals, replace it with the next one on your list until you’ve achieved everything you want for the year.

3.   Write an action plan to make sure you achieve goals

Go through each goal and decide what you need to do to achieve it. With the example goal of ‘replacing old deck’, the actions could be: A.  Ring builders for quotes   B.  Select builder  C.  Have new deck in place by my birthday in May.

Make a fortnightly action plan and start putting actions into place.  Don’t forget to review your action plan every fortnight, tick off what you’ve achieved, cross off anything that’s no longer relevant and add more actions to accomplish in the next fortnight.

4.   Review your goals regularly

Tick off and celebrate the goals you’ve achieved and replace them with new goals.  Life can take some unexpected turns so make sure that you tweak and revise goals as your circumstances change.

If one of your goals at the beginning of the year is to complete a course for work, but you then get a job in a different field, remove that goal and replace it with another one.

I hope you found this article helpful 😊. If you’d like my expert help planning your next year and making sure you stay on track to successfully achieve the positive changes you want, then make sure you book in a session.

Wishing you happiness and success in 2020!