How to Make Your Resolutions Stick

How to Make Your Resolutions Stick

Welcome to 2012!!

Hopefully you’ve already rung in the new year and are off to a strong start making your resolutions a reality.  And optimistic as I am that that is the case, statistics tell another story.  Although one study found that at the end of January a full 75% of “new year’s resolvers” had stuck to their resolutions, within six months that number was well under 50%.  Some studies are even less encouraging.  

As someone who has been studying goal-setting and related topics for almost 30 years I’d like to share some ideas on how to make 2012 the year you are part of the 50+% who not only keep their resolutions after six months but at the end of the year are celebrating having their “best year yet”! 

Why are resolutions so much more often made than kept?  There may be many reasons, but a big one (I think)  is the word “resolution” itself.  As a culture we’ve come to associate resolutions with the kind of frothy declarations of “this year will be different” we make in the bubbly haze of New Year’s Eve celebrations.  We almost expect to fail.  We aren’t really serious about our “resolve”.  But if you’re ready to get serious about making your resolutions stick, here are some strategies I’ve found useful.  I hope they work for you! 

The word “resolve” means “a formal expression of will or intent.”  So just what would it take to make your “resolve” or resolutions formal? 

Three things: 

1)      Specificity

2)      Accountability

3)      Commitment 

Specificity first: Research into goal-setting and more importantly goal-achieving tells us that it is the specific target that really gets our creative juices flowing and gives our minds a clear target to shoot for.  A resolution to get healthier is almost useless unless you clearly define what “healthier” looks like and means to you.  It may be as simple as identifying exactly “what and by when” you will achieve X or attain Y. 

WEAK:  I want to get healthier                               

STRONG:   In 2012 I will get healthier as measured by: weighing 125 pounds, working out 4-6 Xs weekly and eating at least 5 servings of fresh fruits and veggies daily.        

So take one of your resolutions and see if it meets the “specificity test”.  If not, get busy rewriting it so it does.  What, you haven’t written them down?  Putting your resolutions in writing is another aspect of specificity. Until you write them down, they’re more wishes or hopes than goals or resolutions.  Having the courage to put your specific resolve in writing sets you apart as one of a very elite group (some estimate as few as 3% of the population) of goal-achievers! 

The next key to actually achieving your resolutions is to share them with a trusted friend, mentor or accountability partner.  Accountability is an incredibly powerful tool in achieving success.  As anyone who has ever worked with a personal trainer knows, when you agree to work with a trainer, you not only have financial skin in the game you have something that may be equally powerful in helping you follow through: your ego! 

Once we make the commitment to another person and agree to be accountable, we have upped the ante and will often do far more to maintain status in their eyes than we would ever do without being accountable to them.  I’ve seen it myself time and again in my coaching practice:  People are far more likely to follow through on their promises when they know they’ll be reporting back (accountable) than they ever would if they simply made a “mental promise” to themselves. 

Who do you have in your life that you trust to hold you accountable to your resolutions and goals for 2012?  If you want to increase your odds of success, you’ll find an accountability partner to share your written goals or resolutions with, and pronto! 

The third ingredient that can help you transform your resolutions into results is commitment.  Commitment is the emotional component necessary to get you moving.  One definition of the word “commitment” is “a state of being obligated or emotionally impelled.”  As I see it, resolve is the mental step needed to clarify and state what you want to achieve.  Commitment is the emotional juice that “impels” you to act on your intent.  Without both resolve and commitment it’s likely your New Year’s resolutions will end up dissolving like the bubbles in day-old champagne. 

In a line from one of my favorite commentaries on the power of commitment the writer says this:  “Until one is committed there is hesitancy.  The chance to draw back.  Always ineffectiveness…. But the moment one definitely commits then Providence moves too.  All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.”

Commitment becomes the catalyst that shifts you into action.  And very little will happen until you make it. 

Will 2012 be the year you finally start getting the results you want in your life and business?  Of course there are additional steps you can take. But for today, start by getting clear and specific about your resolutions, find an accountability partner and make the heart-felt commitment to get into action.  Even if you’ve already fallen off the wagon in some way, I challenge you to begin again.  Let this be the first day of the best year of your life!! 

If you’d like a more formal tool to help you, may I recommend you use the “gold standard” program I’ve used for more than 12 years to help me set and achieve goals:  Best Year Yet.  Just click the link to the Best Year Yet registration page on the side navigation bar to enroll. 

And remember, it’s only too late if you don’t start now. 

Do something to amaze yourself this week!