4 STEPS TO MAKE & KEEP YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

Around New Years Eve I always start thinking about my new years resolutions. But how do you make effective resolutions that you can actually keep and aren't just a product of the Christmas excesses (lose weight, drink less, eat better etc). 

I thought I would share with you a little NY Resolution process that might help you plan and stick to your goals. I have to be honest and say that this is something my mum developed a long time ago (she is possibly the most driven person I've ever met) and forced us to do from an early age. Not appreciated at age 13 but as I have grown older it's definitely come in handy. I'm by no means an expert in this field but hopefully you find this (even a little bit) useful.

This process focuses on developing goals for the coming year that address all parts of our life rather than one or two areas, with major consideration of how you will realistically put your goals into action.
 

Step 1. Write goals for the coming year. 

You can use the following categories (a little cheesy but remember they are via my mother!):
TO LIVE (health, fitness, work, money, travel etc)
TO LOVE (family, friends, partner etc)
TO LEARN (academic, business, hobbies etc)
TO LEAVE A LEGACY (community work, charity, environment etc)

Examples:
TO LIVE - 
money: save $15k for the deposit for a house.
travel: go to three cities I haven't been to before
fitness: play a team sport
work: change jobs
(etc etc etc)

Your goals don't have to be major or life altering, just things you want to achieve - no matter how small or big. You should feel free to have as many or as few as you want. If you have one major thing in your life that  you want to work through, feel free to just have that as your single goal, although I usually like to have at least a goal under each category so you know you have a balanced approach. 

Step 2. List any barriers

For each of the goals write down any potential barriers or obstructions to making them happen, then think of a strategy for overcoming that barrier.

Example: Save $15k for the deposit for a house. BARRIER - spending too much money on shopping. STRATEGY - Automatically put away x% of wage into an account you cannot touch.

Step 3. Write an operational Plan for each goal

Write a 12 month OPERATIONAL PLAN for your goals with a number of action items. This may have you doing certain activities on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Individual goals may have one action item or many action items, depending on their complexity. 

Example: Save $15k for the deposit for a house. 
Operational Plan - Action items
- Automatically allocate 20% of earnings as savings each month.
- Allow one new purchase per month (DIY the rest!)
- Eat one meal out per weekend instead of 2. Invest in nice produce to cook at home.
- Etc etc etc

Step 4. Mark Your Yearly Planner

Buy yourself a functional diary, and go through the diary and mark key action items. I go for a Molskine weekly diary that shows the whole week over two pages, but you can use what ever you want.

Example: Save $15k for the deposit for a house. Diary note: 24th January, Feb, March - payday, transfer 20% of wage to savings account.

Finally, also add key check points to review how your progress has been going through the year. Example: 24th July - have I saved $7k? At this point you can review what your goals were, which lets you react to your progress and change your goals if you need to.
 

Here's how one goal may look once you have completed the 4 steps:

Goal: Get fitter and lose xkg.

Potential obstruction: Lack of time to exercise.

Action items: 
- Organise one exercise session with friends on the weekend.

- Alter working hours slightly to allow for exercise in the morning. 

- Commit to a half marathon to force self to exercise.

- Integrate 30 mins of incidental exercise into daily routine

Key dates in year planner: weekly run, PT sessions, Singapore half marathon. 

I know we all like to do Bridget jones style resolutions - i.e. to become a yoga guru in a week (I am a culprit of this!)  but in reality these types of resolutions can leave you feeling deflated once they don't materialise. Looking realistically at what you can achieve and putting together a plan for how you will do it can be a lot more effective. And don't be phased if not everything works out the way you planned - if you achieve one or two of the major things you list you'll be doing well.

Good luck in 2012!!! I hope doing more DIY comes in at the top of your list. 

Oh Btw, feel like you need a detox? Make sure you check out my HOW TO DETOX post.