How to create Sustainable Resolutions and Goals
Posted on January 09, 2020 by Malcolm Fiellies, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
We all set goals at one time or another, some with success others not. Maybe it is not the New Year’s resolution that is the problem, maybe it is the
The second week of the New Year is almost gone, and I am wondering how those New Year’s resolutions are going. After checking in with a few friends, it seems it is going very slow or not at all. Some say they do not believe in setting New Year’s resolutions as they just don’t work. My question is, is it the New Year’s resolutions that do not work or is it the way we set them that is unsustainable. It seems that most of the New Year’s resolutions and other goals we set during this time of the year are set at an emotional level. This results in resolutions having a very short life span. We seem to have that knee jerk reaction to our health, life, work or other issues we experience. I have concluded that goals set with a clear mind have a longer life span and are more achievable.
Most of us are familiar with the term SMART goals. The acronym for ensuring that the goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. It is a very useful approach to setting goals and seems to yield a greater level of success. However, for some reason even if we have SMART goals, it may still be difficult to achieve them.
I took a moment to reflect on my own commitments and goals over the past few years, the ones that succeeded as well as the ones that just failed or never gained any traction. Having completed this exercise, I noticed a few little golden threads running through the successful goals. Firstly, I had a personal invested interest in the success of that goal. Also, the consequence of doing it or not doing it was quite big. Lastly, I had a clear vision of what I wanted and understood the potential obstacles and had an idea to mitigate or navigate them. Where I was less successful, the opposite generally applied, and the goals were generally emotionally based and not very SMART.
When you find yourself being stuck with one of your goals, maybe ask yourself the following questions:
1. How important is this goal in my life? If it is not important to you, you may not give it the attention and energy it needs for success.
2. What is my relationship to this goal? Goals we set for ourselves are more likely to be achieved than when we do it because of others. For example, the doctor might suggest exercise as a tool to improve your health. Whilst being healthy is important to you, the idea of exercise may not be your idea of a way to improve your health. You do not have a personal connection to this goal. Goals imposed on us do not enjoy the same level of commitment compared to our self-determined goals
3. What is the risk or consequence of not achieving this goal? At times the scale of the consequence of not achieving the set goal propels us into action. The potential loss of income either personally or for the business could be a strong encouragement to work on that specific goal in order to avoid negative impact.
4. Do I have clarity of what the actual goal is? The clarity of the outcome in achieving the goal is very important to me. I need to be able to visualize the end result. Each goal impacts your life one way or another. Taking our above-mentioned example, exercise will not only improve your health but will also, offer you a better quality of life.
5. What internal struggles are keeping you from working on this goal? We find that even though we have worked through all the above questions there is still something that is holding us back. There are still many deeper questions that could be unpacked. Some of the things that potentially hold us back could include, fear of failure or rejection, competing commitments where more than one item requires attention, our assumptions about ourselves or others. This is an area where most of my clients seem to find their breakthrough and start working on their goals.
We all set goals at one time or another, some with success others not. Maybe it is not the New Year’s resolution that is the problem, maybe it is the way we approach our New year’s goals. I personally believe I do not need to wait for 1 January of any year to make a change, but if for some reason I do, I make sure it is not just emotionally driven but rather SMART.
My wish for you as we start this new year and decade 2020, is that each of the goals, whether personal, professional or business-related, bring you the success you desire.
Happy 2020
