New Year after New Year, millions of Americans set out with the best of intentions, making new resolutions with lofty and unattainable goals. Some resolution makers last a week; others stick it out until February 1. But likely very few manage to achieve their overall goals.
Taking a Baby Step approach, one with small, achievable goals, may be far more realistic and enduring than the ones you’d love to brag about to your friends and/or family. Limiting yourself to the once-a-year, do or die, on the mountain of debt goals might get you fired up…for a while. Aiming to shed your unwanted pounds a little at a time, or to replace the hideous wallpaper in the family room, are both great goals. However, it may be far easier for most to focus on what they can accomplish in a day versus what they can stick with all year. One of the most common resolutions is to lose weight. Often times when people set this goal they don’t have a plan on how to accomplish it, so they wind up focusing on the negative aspects, like having to diet.
One overall larger goal might be to lose weight. However, setting a goal such as getting up to go to the gym at 5:30am tomorrow, whether to participate with the support of others in a fitness class, or on your own, is a baby step in which you can revile just hours from the time of setting the goal to achieving it.
Resolutions should work to your advantage. They should be positive statements about possibilities, not unbreakable promises to yourself. If you frame resolutions as positive experiences, you may find them far more attainable. As an added bonus, you could find yourself feeling much better about yourself. This year, choose worthy resolutions that make you feel good and that you can progress with each day. Let’s make 2018 a healthy and happy year!