This Year I Really Mean It!

Posted on 31 December 2007

I’m guessing that as we prepare to put yet another year to bed and march on relentlessly into 2008 you have got at least one goal for the New Year. It may not be a resolution per se or even anything written down, but I bet there’s something lurking in your mind. It could be quitting smoking, losing a bit of weight, exercising more, being more even tempered, getting a promotion at work or forcing China out of Tibet. Whatever it is, I bet there’s something. Am I right?

 

If I am right what are you going to do differently to make sure you achieve your aim?  Give that some serious thought for a moment.

 

What are you going to do differently?

 

I had this conversation last week with a client and the response I got was a fairly typical one and went along the lines of “This time I really mean it, I will hang in there, just you wait and see” Well apart from the horribly negative language (hang in there suggests some type of medieval torture rather than improving the quality of ones life) there is absolutely nothing to suggest anything will change based upon that sentence. Millions of people worldwide will say to themselves that they are going to improve some aspect of their life in 2008 but only a small percentage will deliver on their promise.

 

There’s an old saying that goes “If nothing changes, nothing changes” and it perfectly describes this situation.

 

To effect change you have to do something different. You can’t set off with the idea that this time you will try a little bit harder and that will be the change that makes the change because it’s very doubtful it’ll have an effect whatsoever, except for maybe making you feel frustrated when the going gets tough.

 

If you really want to change you need to approach things differently to be successful. It takes about 30 days to build up conscious competence in a new behavior but between 90 and 120 days for it to become so ingrained that it is unconscious competence, becomes a ritual and is part of your identity.

 

Think about what it is you want to achieve and also whether you have tried to do it before. If the answer is that you have then look at what stopped you being successful. Did you lack genuine commitment? Did you have sufficient resources? Did you have a support network? Did you have a plan in place to help you when the going got tough? These are the questions that you should be asking yourself now! If you can’t be bothered to look into this more closely then I would question your commitment and thus your ability to meet your own expectations.

 

Look at goal setting, goal statements and setting up habits here AND here. Read books, hire a life coach but most of us all believe in yourself. You CAN do it of that I have no doubt. Will you do it is another matter and only you can answer that, but if anybody on the planet has done what you would like to achieve then you can probably do it too, physical ability notwithstanding.

 

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year and hope that all your dreams come true as long as they are nice fluffy ones and don’t involve clubbing baby seals or attacking 3rd World countries.

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