This is the time of year where people will create a list of 10 or more New Year Resolutions only to start and never finish. Have you noticed how crowded gyms are right after New Year’s day? People take up all the premium parking spots, use all the machines and weights, and stop showing up by the end of the month. What happened? They seemed committed when they bought the gym membership, went grocery shopping, and purchased workout gear, right?
The same experiences happen every day with people seeking to accomplish goals. So, how can we overcome the challenges we face while on our journey? By implementing these 4 secrets:
Secret # 1 Make Room for Yourself
Let’s be honest, the only person that can satisfy your wants and needs is you. Let’s go after the things we love instead of the things we like. Forget going after what is good and go for what is great. The only way any of the goals we set or resolutions we commit to are going to happen, is if we make room in each day for ourselves.
We must understand how special and important we are. If we want to live long and have healthy functional bodies, we must make room for ourselves. If we want to have the ability to play with our children long-term, we must make room for ourselves. If we want to better serve our communities, we must make room for ourselves.
The point is, everything we want in life starts within us. So, if you are looking to crush your new year resolutions, start by making room for yourself. Discover who you really are, go after what you really want, and unlock your full potential.
Secret # 2: Complete Your Incompletes
Begin by making a list of your incompletes. How do you plan on progressing your life forward and achieving realistic success in your life if you can’t finish the things you were so motivated to complete a year ago? When you make this list, ask yourself… Is this what I really want? Do these initial goals line up with my current desires? If the answer is yes, keep it on your list. If not, remove it.
Secret # 3: Turn 30 into 13
This is where most people fail. If you want to accomplish your New Year resolutions, you need to be consistent. It takes 30 consecutive days to change a behavior, build a new habit, or eliminate one. So, when you decide to go after your resolutions remember this: If you are on day 14 and you miss a day, you must start back at 1. The key word is consistency. Now that we have successfully completed 30 days, we are going to focus on being consistent for 13 weeks. We concentrate our focus on 13 consecutive weeks because it takes 13 weeks to master the new behavior or habit.
Why do most people fail at accomplishing their new year resolutions? They fail because they usually write down too many things they want to focus on. Do the math with me: There are 52 weeks in a year. If we divide 52 by 13 we get the answer of 4. Your New Year Resolutions list should consist of no more than 4 things if you really want to be successful going forward.
Secret # 4: Create a Daily Top 3
Your goal is to take action…daily. This is usually the place where people begin to list all of the things they need to do. They usually start off great and find themselves in a good rhythm. Shortly after, they begin to feel overwhelmed, then panicked, and eventually, they quit. But, we are going to overcome that. How? By keeping things simple.
Every day going forward, think of the tiniest steps you can take to move one step closer to achieving your goals. Personally, I prefer a daily top 5 list of my tasks. These daily tasks consist of the 5 most powerful things I can do to move my goals forward. I find 5 to be the best amount of things I can do for my schedule. You will need to determine what amount of tasks works best for you. Having a daily top 3 is a great place to start without leaving you feeling overwhelmed.
So make that phone call, send that email, join that gym, and accomplish all that you set out to achieve this year.
Author: Kevin Smith
The Bodysmith Plan
About the Author
Kevin Smith is well-known around the United States and is digitally noted and media recognized. Kevin is a successful professional bodybuilder, personal trainer, behavioral change specialist, entrepreneur, and a Jack Canfield certified success coach.
