Posted Under: Announcement, Entrepreneurship, Planning

2010 is almost over and with less than a week left to 2011, it’s time to write our new year resolutions. New Year resolutions, the best definition would be it’s the big promises that we make to ourselves and break them within the first few weeks or a few months at the most… These resolutions come in many shapes and sizes (usually XXXXL), from loosing weight to writing a book, to getting rid of an addiction… Yet, we fail or let’s say we give up on our resolutions after a very short period of time, and instead of being ashamed about it or doing something about it, we start finding problems & excuses to justify our actions instead… Here’s what happens, why it happens, and how to avoid it (how to have effective New Year resolutions and accomplish them?)

What happens?

It’s year end, we are frustrated with all that we could have done in the year just about to be history and the nearing end puts us in a reset mode, where we become motivated (read: more procrastinating) and postpone everything on New Year. We say to ourselves, “this new year is going to be the new beginning, I’m going to fix everything that went wrong, I’m going to make it all right, I’m going to make it all work! I’m going to…(insert your favorite new year resolution here)…” and then continue enjoying the holidays, because there’s very little we can do until the calendar hits 01/01/NewYear Come new year, we get in to the “magnificent” game of catch-up, since the holidays put us behind on almost everything… Say what? New Year Resolutions! Oh yeah, I’m working on it, just a matter of freeing myself from this (insert excuse#1 here) & that (insert excuse#2 here)…

Why it happens?

It happens simply because – A. the goal is too big (getting a six pack Ab or writing a book happen to be the most popular ones); B. there is no action plan, no direction, no instant (or short term) incentive/ motivation… We make efforts in the first few weeks or months because we’re driven by the year end frustration and new year’s brain reboot; but after that there’s no motivation to keep us on track and going… So, it happens because the process of setting up new year resolutions is flawed in the first place.

How to avoid it?

Have a New Year Vision! Have a vision for what you want to accomplish in the new year! Getting a six pack Ab or authoring a NY Times Bestseller or whatever happens to be your goal for the year, try to stick keep your list short and simple, having a few goals and achieving all or most of them is better than having too many goals and not finishing any… Having a short list also helps you remember each one of your goals by heart and stay focused!

Create an action plan! Break your vision/ goal down into milestones! Start writing a blog or writing 5 pages a week, or going to gym 3 times a week, having a personal trainer and a peer/ accountability partner, collecting feedback from readers, prepare for a marathon, etc are just a few examples of how your can break down your bigger goals into granular level action steps.

Celebrate and enjoy the milestones! As and when you reach these milestones, acknowledge and celebrate your success, reflect on your journey towards bigger goal so far, this will act as motivation, incentive, and fuel to keep you moving and staying on track… This is how you will make every new year resolution, a reality!

So, what are your New Year resolutions for 2011? Please share via comments below!

Much success to all in 2011 and the years to come!

Here’s the video version of this post for your viewing pleasure –

And just a side note, I found a New Year Resolution Generator on Monina Velarde’s blog, check it out and have fun! http://moninavelarde.com/newyears/