New Years Resolutions That Work

Dec 7

Traditional New Year’s Resolutions fail epically.

This year, do it better.

We are now headlong into the gift-giving, sparkly end-of-year festivities. Hopefully, we are enjoying too much good food and drink, time with loved ones, and more activities than usual. This is headed right to the New Year and resolution season.

Have you come up with your New Year’s Resolutions for 2023?

Have you ever made it past February with them?

You are not alone.

I've been reading so many statistics on this topic. Some say that over 80% of people don't make it past January. Since 1753 we've been making them and since maybe March of 1753 we've been breaking them.

Why do we do this to ourselves? How can we do it better?

Resolutions don't work because often they're more like wishes than an action-oriented plan to keep you on target and moving forward. You need goals to create a plan around so you know what to do daily to get there.

If you google S.M.A.R.T. goals you're going to get countless results. (SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable, Time-Bound) I've been teaching them for years, starting with a Chronic Disease Self-Management Program for people trying to live their best lives with chronic conditions and pain. They work if you are clear on your goal for them. I use them all the time when making plans with my coaching clients.

An up-and-coming update to SMART goals is HARD goals. These are the audacious goals that scare you a little (or a lot). These goals inspire you to achieve things that light your soul on fire. They feel urgent and exciting to get to work on.

What I see on a consistent basis in my coaching sessions are amazing humans beating themselves up because they're not further along OR don't know where to start in the first place. I've even said the same to my own coach when learning new concepts.

Guess what? We must start somewhere. Someone had to teach us how to use a spoon. Someone had to teach us how to walk. Someone had to teach us how to read. If we dropped the spoon, fell, or stumbled over what sounds the letters made, we tried again and again until we got there. We didn't shame ourselves. We kept going until we learned.

What is one big scary goal you can tackle one piece at a time? SMART goals are a great tool to break down HARD goals. My clients often use their sessions to set the plan for the week to help them get closer to the HARD goal they hired me to help them achieve.

In thinking about how you want to do something different in the new year, what is an empowering way to think about it? How can you be kind to yourself like the patient person who taught you to use your spoon?

I love helping people uncover their goals and create an exciting plan to get there! Every December I offer a mini coaching package with 3 thirty minute laser coaching sessions.

The sessions help you: