Happy New Year, everyone! It’s the time of the year when we start anew and reach new heights. So as we draft our new year’s resolutions, let’s all be excited about what’s in store for all of us.
But remember your 2021 resolutions? Did you actually achieve them? For most, it’s for naught. We are left excited at the start, only to fail at the end miserably. So what do we do then? What separates those who achieve their goals and those who are left failing?
We got you! Here are 7 practical tips to follow through on your New Year’s resolutions.
Align Your Goals with Your Values
What do you exactly want for this year? It might be extra income or losing weight. Whatever it is, people fail because what they want is not aligned with their values.
(There are a lot of values in this world. You can check this website to pinpoint your top three values.)
For example, you want to earn extra income. But your top value is family. Would you get an additional full-time job on top of another full-time job to get to your goals?
Well, you might, but you will feel miserable and will most likely fail because it’s not aligned to who you truly are.
So when you want something, the process of getting your goal should be consistent with your values. So instead of getting another 8-hour job, why not do freelancing work for extra 1-2 hours a day? You get your goal and you still spend time with your family.
Make sure that what you do is always aligned with your top three values.
Make It Easy
People think that they can achieve great things by locking on hard (almost impossible) tasks first towards their goals. Does it work? Well, most of the time, it doesn’t. With the sheer difficulty, people are too overwhelmed even to start.
And once they do it, they can’t really sustain or commit to doing it again. Think about all the fad diets people tried. So what works? It’s making each step easy.
Make your goals easy enough that you don’t need the willpower to do it. For example, getting extra income might start with just “pitching to two clients this week.”
It’s not as grandiose as other gestures. But it indeed is sustainable when you build on it in the long run.
Divide into Bite-size Goals
How do you eat an elephant? It’s one bite at a time. If you have a yearly goal, most focus on the end goal. And not knowing that what’s important is what you do every day rather than that inconsistent big move.
So divide your goals into something bite-size. To achieve this kind of income, what should you reach in quarter 1, quarter 2, quarter 3, and quarter 4?
After this, further divide it into monthly, weekly, and daily goals. And then think, what should you be doing daily to achieve this goal?
You would be surprised that the “30,000 PHP extra a month” goal is just pitching to 3 clients a week. It would depend. But it’s definitely much more doable, right?
Habit Stacking
What if you don’t have any willpower to start your tasks? Well, you can employ habit stacking. After all, not everyone has enough willpower to sustain. Habit stacking is basically pairing up a habit you currently do with a habit that you want to pursue.
For example, do you want to watch Netflix but don’t want to exercise? You can pair both habits up. You can say that I will exercise while watching Netflix.
Or, for example, you want to meditate. But you just can’t. You can say, after drinking my morning coffee, I will meditate.
With this tool, you can take advantage of your old habits. And build more new habits that complement them.
Fail Forward. Fail Fast.
People are afraid to fail. In fact, most people fear failure more than death itself. And that should not be the case.
As leadership author John Maxwell has said, “Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.”
The only way we can progress is if we fail as many times as we can to achieve our goals. Failure is essential.
We would know what works and what doesn’t. With this, we can design our success, and create results that we can replicate repeatedly, even in our other goals in life.
Fire – Recalibrate – Aim
The greatest manifestation of fear of failure is inaction. Sometimes, we think of hundreds of scenarios before we do something. We Aim – Fire – Recalibrate. But do we actually fire? Most don’t. They are stuck living the worst scenarios in their head and preparing to “AIM.”
Instead of this, we can change and Fire – Recalibrate – Aim. Do the things that you think will lead to getting your goals. And afterwards, assess what went well and what went wrong.
By getting this feedback, you can then Aim with a new strategy and Fire again. Do this multiple times until you find the right system that works for you.
Celebrate Small Wins
The problem with people is that they are afraid to celebrate their small wins. I mean, if your goal is an extra 30,000 a month for the year. And you earned an additional 1,500 PHP this week because that’s your target; please celebrate!
1,500 PHP vs. your extra 30,000 PHP, isn’t it too early to celebrate? No. Some are too shy to celebrate. And it’s a big mistake. (But of course, if your goal is money-related, don’t splurge all the extra you earned.)
When we celebrate our small wins, it gives us more confidence to challenge more significant steps towards our goals. And this continuous loop of successes will propel us to an upward spiral.
Celebrating your wins can be as simple as having a Korean barbeque date with friends or just plain binge-watching. As long as you feel good, go on and reward yourself for a job well done.
Conclusion
Are you ready to reach your goals this year? With the steps, you are sure to be close to your targets for the year. Cheers!!
