Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2014, and its examples refer to “this 2014” as the current year.
Fifty per cent of New Year’s resolutions will fail in the next 30 days, and within three months 90% of them will be dead letters. Does that mean writing resolutions is a waste of time? Quite the opposite. It should be compulsory.
The problem is that most people do it as an old tradition, and very few manage to keep up the persistence needed to reach their goals and targets. Of course, people who struggle to make an effort on these resolutions generally also struggle to achieve any kind of goal for the rest of the year. It sounds harsh, but that’s how it is.
So much for the “shock therapy” motivation. Now for the consolation: we understand that intending to keep your resolutions is healthy, but intention without action is useless. And that action is usually lost through 6 common mistakes, which fortunately can be fixed.
1. We don’t write down our New Year’s resolutions
This is probably the biggest mistake we can make, because it’s the best way to sabotage our own goals. If a goal isn’t written down, it isn’t planned either, so the most likely outcome is failing to achieve it.
Write your goals on paper and, as Richard Branson said, put them somewhere very visible (the fridge, your computer…). One of the 40 universal truths of success was that one of the secrets of success is sharing your goals with other people and keeping those same people updated on your plans.
2. Setting lots of goals instead of focusing on a couple
Willpower is like a muscle that can get tired, and as in the best training programmes, we’ll take it step by step. Goals aren’t like an investment portfolio that needs to be diversified. The secret to achieving goals is putting all our energy and attention into a single goal, and once we’ve achieved it, moving on to the next one. If you take on 5 different goals at once, you’ll fail at all of them.
If you don’t have much self-confidence because you haven’t kept a single resolution in 35 years, put a very small goal first on your list. Once you reach it, move on to the next. As for the experts at reaching goals, you know the drill: think big.
3. Vague goals
Goals should be specific, measurable, realistic and time-bound. In other words, saying “I’m going to exercise more” is no good. You’d have to change that to: “I’m going to swim for an hour three times a week.” Likewise, it’s no good saying “this 2014 I’m going to earn more money.” No, you should say: “I’m going to save €3,000 in the first five months of the year.”
These are the only ways to know whether we’re meeting our goals or failing. (Read: 7 steps to reach your goals.)
4. Losing to yourself
Sometimes goals are between you and yourself, so when difficulties arise many people simply give up without a second thought. After all, keeping or breaking that resolution neither harms nor benefits anyone else. Now look at it this way: “Is there anything sadder than competing against yourself and losing?”
If you think you could fall into this trap, try to find other people with the same goal and compete against them. But be careful: picking competitors with little willpower can lead us into complacency and quitting once all the people we were competing with have failed.
5. Setting goals but not building new habits
Can you keep doing the same thing and get different results? Obviously not. Many people set goals but don’t change their behaviour or habits. That is: I want to be smarter, a better entrepreneur, improve my leadership skills, and so on… but I still don’t like reading and I have no plans to learn anything new through books, courses and so on…
Others want to make changes in their lives but keep surrounding themselves with exactly the same people. So change becomes unlikely.
6. Putting goals off until tomorrow
As soon as I have the money… I’m busy this week, but as soon as I have time… and so on, with countless excuses. Another universal truth of business success is that you’ll never have the time, resources or money you need to start a business, so the time to start is today.
As someone once said, “people who are good at making excuses are rarely good at anything else”, so stop making excuses and take the first step. Don’t let fear of failure hold you back, because failure is what you get every time you make an excuse.
Our biggest enemy is usually ourselves, both consciously and unconsciously. Some time ago we published 7 psychological traps that hold back success in your career or business. Doubts, distractions, complacency… our capacity for self-sabotage is sometimes underestimated.
Further reading
- 7 things the world’s most successful people have in common
- 14 science-backed ways to be happier
- Invaluable life lessons from older Harvard graduates
Featured image: U.S. Senate. Office of Senate Curator, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
