New Year – Don’t Resolve – Plan
As the year draws to a close and everyone’s mind is focused on the Christmas celebrations, I can’t help but wonder how many people will go through the motion of setting New Year’s Resolutions. According to Research shows that between 66% and 88% of people’s resolutions last less than a month.
What do you think are the 4 New Year’s resolutions. Go on, jot them down and then we’ll compare notes.
The top four resolutions are
i) give up smoking,
ii) exercise more (lose weight)
iii) getting organized
iv) learn a new skill or language.
I have looked at the goals people set at the start of the new year in terms of Wellness. We all want a healthy and fulfilling life. Our resolutions usually reflect one of the Wellness areas.
Now I am not saying, don’t set personal improvement goals for the new year. I am saying “plan to achieve any goal you set”. I would like to do more than just say “plan better”. I would like to share with you a few tools to help you do just that.
ALIGN YOUR THINKING, BEHAVIOURS AND FEELINGS
Look at this simple example of someone fully intent on getting to an important interview on time. Their preparation might look like this. The day before they prepare what they will wear. They look up the address of the interview online, going so far as to walk through the route using Google Earth/Maps. They then send the route to their phone. The next step was to get an early night’s sleep, after setting the alarm before going to bed.
Did you notice how the thinking, behavior, and feelings were all aligned to achieving the goal? That type of preparation sends clear and unambiguous signals to the subconscious.
I have a goal for 2019. That goal is to focus my posts on the different Wellness areas. You should expect me to include how and where essential oils can help. Not only that I will have my own personal wellness goal, so I hope you will work along with me.
YOUR WELLNESS SELF-ASSESSMENT
The first step is to decide which area to work on. I believe I already know which it will be but I am going use a systematic process. The Wellness Wheel below is a good aid to start the process. Start by assessing and scoring how satisfied you feel with that area of your life. What you think as you carry out the activity is just as important how you score the wheel. As you consider what makes you satisfied or dissatisfied with that wellness area, record your thought below the wheel. For example, if you score 3 for Occupational it might be that “your work” is the area you are most dissatisfied with. If you are thinking you are dissatisfied because of a) long and unsociable hours, b) low pay and c) often work alone, make a note of those things because they will help you create a specific goal of what you DO WANT.
You have taken the first step in achieving any goal you set in the New Year. Yeah!!! If you can’t wait for the next post to take the next step, here is some food for thought.
Self-awareness is your strongest asset when wanting to make a personal improvement. So over the coming week, work on honestly answering these self-awareness questions.
• What obstacles might you have to overcome to achieve your goal?
• What things would have to put in place to achieve success?
• What would success look like if you were to achieve it 100%?
• How do you currently respond to disappointment both large and small?
• How long does it take you to “bounce back” after a personal disappointment or setback?
I promise you, that all of the above are the first steps in aligning our thoughts, behaviors, and actions to achieving the success you want.
TIPS FOR COMMITTING TO SUCCESS
• Dedicate a Diary or Journal to achieving your goal.
• Set an alarm in your phone, to remind you to check and review your journal. Or do it first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
• Find a picture or photo that represents what you would consider a successful achievement of your goal.
• Identify someone you feel is successful in this area (do nothing else at this time)
