Make your New Year's resolutions succeed

Have your team been set objectives and have they themselves set New Year’s resolutions? Then look out: the chances are they will need all the help they can get to achieve them!

We’re a nation of resolution makers – 80 per cent of us say we have vowed to change the way we conduct our professional and personal lives at a new year but more than half of us fail to keep our pledges. And it gets terribly repetitive: we keep making the same promises and breaking them every year.

However well-intentioned you may be, your New Year resolutions have little chance of being fulfilled unless you set clear goals and focus on the rewards. Think through exactly what you will do, where you will do it, and at what time.

Vague plans fail. For example, instead of saying that you will go running two days a week, tell yourself that you will run on Tuesday and Thursdays at 6pm. The most popular resolution, from research we conducted with our clients, falls into the vague category, however. It is to enjoy life more.

Did your New Year resolutions make our top ten list?

1. Enjoy life more. More and more people are resolving to reschedule business activities to make time for their kids, help their children set and achieve worthwhile goals and setting an hour a day for family, every day.

2. Tame the bulge. With many adult Britons now considered overweight or obese, more will opt for the stairs instead of the lift, fruit in place of chocolate and active rather than sedentary activities.

3. Fit in fitness. Regular exercise has been associated with more health benefits than anything else known to man – it keeps you healthy and makes you look and feel better.

4. Get out of debt. This could be the year for getting a handle on your finances - it's a promise that will repay itself many times over in the year ahead.

5. Get organised. Resolve this year to plan your days, reduce interruptions, clean off your desk, say no and make detailed lists.

6. Learn something new. Whether you take a course or read a book, you'll find education to be one of the easiest, most motivating resolutions to keep.

7. Quit smoking. Becoming a non-smoker is probably one of the best decisions you can ever make and is a life changing as well as life saving decision.

8. Secure a better job. A new year provides a sense of getting a free make-over, so you can try again and get it right by finding a better job or simply take a new approach to the job you’ve already got.

9. Find a soul mate. Romance is alive and well as more and more people are looking for that special someone, their soul mate who lights their fire, the one whom they love unequivocally and who shares their worldview.

10. Avoid alcohol. While many people use the New Year as an incentive to finally stop drinking, most are not equipped to make such a drastic lifestyle change all at once - better to taper gradually, or even simply learn to drink in moderation.

Here are three tips to see that your resolution actually makes a difference:

1. Create a plan. Setting a goal without formulating a plan is merely wishful thinking. In order for your resolution to have resolve, it must translate into clear steps that can be put into action. A good plan will tell you a) what to do next and b) what are all of the steps required to complete the goal. If you're like most people, then you'll have a limited window of opportunity during the first few days of January to harness your motivation. After that, most people forget their resolutions completely. It is imperative that you begin creating your plan immediately.

2. Think year round, not just new year. Nothing big gets accomplished in one day. Resolutions are set in one day, but accomplished with a hundred tiny steps that happen throughout the year. New Year's resolutions should be nothing more than a starting point. You must develop a ritual or habit for revisiting your plan.

3. Remain flexible. Expect that your plan can and will change. Life has a funny way of throwing unexpected things at us, and flexibility is required to complete anything but the simplest goal. Sometimes the goal itself will even change. Most of all, recognize partial successes at every step along the way. Just as a resolution isn't accomplished the day it's stated, neither is it accomplished the day you reach your goal. Rather, it's accomplished in many small increments along the way. Acknowledge these incremental successes as they come.

William Montgomery
CEO of TEN

Through his workshops, William Montgomery has helped hundreds of organisations and schools plus thousands of people to achieve their potential. To discuss your continuous improvement requirements, please call 0117 325 2010 or send a message to info@askten.co.uk.