Expert Feature: We’ve All Been Doing New Year’s Resolutions Wrong. Here’s How To Fix Them.
If I showed you a new way that you could make a resolution – that would really work – would you actually follow it?
If your answer is, “Yes,” then scroll down and keep reading.
If your answer is, “No,” then you might as well not waste your time reading this.
You can close this tab or click the back button now.
Three Embarrassing Mistakes
1. When a drum major tossed his baton in Ventura, California, it hit two 4000-volt power lines, blacking out a ten-block area and putting a radio station off the air. The baton melted.
2. A bank robber in Los Angeles told the clerk not to give him cash, but to deposit the money to his checking account.
3. On his first assignment for a Chicago newspaper, a rookie reporter drove a company car to a car-crushing plant, parked in the wrong spot, and returned from interviewing the manager just in time to see the vehicle being compacted into scrap metal.
Mistake Aren’t Our Problem
We all make mistakes. They’re nothing to be ashamed of.
They’re inevitable.
In and of themselves they’re not a problem.
But mistakes do become a problem when:
1. We aren’t aware of our mistakes
2. We keep making the same mistakes
We’ve All Been Doing New Year’s Resolutions Wrong
I hate to tell you this, but I think we’ve all been making a big mistake when it comes to making resolutions.
And I believe this mistake is the main reason that so many of our New Year’s resolutions fail.
If we don’t realize our mistake in this area, and we continue to make resolutions the wrong way, they’ll continue to fail us.
Let me explain.
The word “resolve” means to “decide firmly on a course of action.”
The word “resolution” means “a firm decision to do or not to do something.”
I want you to notice two things about those definitions:
1. Resolutions are decisions that are solid or unchanging.
2. They are focused on actions.
That means that a resolution is an unchanging decision about an action.
Not only that, a resolution can never be a one-time decision. By definition it’s a continual decision.
Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions
Now let’s look at what the top 10 New Year’s Eve resolutions usually are according to USA.gov:
- Lose Weight and Get Fit
- Quit Smoking
- Learn Something New
- Eat Healthier and Diet
- Get Out of Debt and Save Money
- Spend More Time with Family
- Travel to New Places
- Be Less Stressed
- Volunteer
- Drink Less
The problem with all of these typical resolutions is that they are descriptions that are focused on end results.
They describe “what” we want to do, but not “how” we’re going to do it.
- How can you make a firm decision about a description?
- How can make a firm decision about an end result?
That’s why we can’t keep them.
You can only be firm or resolute about clear, precise actions, not descriptions or results.
And don’t forget this. The above resolutions all they tend to be decisions we make one-time, at the beginning of the year.
One-time decisions aren’t resolutions. They are wishes or hopes.
That’s why our usual resolutions have never worked.
We’ve being doing them the wrong way the whole time.
A New Way to Make New Year’s Resolutions
In order to make resolutions that no longer fail us, we need to answer the “how” question.
Instead of making a resolution that you want to “lose weight”, you should instead answer the “how” question.
HOW do plan on losing weight? You need to be clear about the action(s) you’ll take.
Instead of making a resolution that you want to “quit smoking”, you need to answer the “how” question.
How do you plan on quitting? You, again, need to be clear about the action(s) you’ll take.
Once you answer these questions, then you’ve taken a huge leap forward in making New Year’s resolutions that actually work.
Here Are the 10 Steps to Take
If you’re ready, then I’d encourage you to read my second blog post: 10-Step System for Making Effective New Year’s Resolutions.
Photo by Alan Cleaver
Related article
- Top 10 New Years Resolutions (INFOGRAPHICS) (baybusinesshelp.com)
