NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS IN SEPTEMBER

Forget about New Years Resolutions in January, they don’t work! You’re wasting your time! September is the best time to set New Year’s Resolutions.                                 

Crazy idea, perhaps you disagree? Then answer this question; “why is it that most people who make them and seem quite serious about it, never really follow through and keep them?”  A very good question don’t you think. I have addressed this issue before but on both occasions it was in January. Maybe now is a better time to take a different tact and initiate some thought, discussion and/or action around the idea.                             

Let me get straight to the point. I believe the “number one” reason why most people fail to keep their New Year’s Resolutions or resolutions in general is because they do not know themselves well enough nor understand why they operate in the world in the way they do. In other words knowing who you are now at a; physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual level, and being aware of what your needs are, puts you in a much better position to be successful at making lasting changes to your behaviour. Perhaps the old adage; “to thine own self be true,” by William Shakespeare applies here. 

“You must understand that sheer will power and determination alone will seldom carry you to a point of ‘no return’ to your particular negative or unacceptable behaviour.”  

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. It is an example I have used before but a very good one at making the point. Let’s say that you want to quite smoking. What is it about your personality that allows you to behave in such a destructive way to begin with? Who are you emotionally, physically, spiritually and intellectually? What type of smoker are you? Do you smoke to reduce anxiety, do you crave cigarettes or are you psychologically addicted, is it a habit, is it a pleasurable feeling for you, or do you like handling a cigarette? These questions need to be answered before you can strategize in a way that maximizes the likelihood of you succeeding in changing or eliminating smoking as a negative behaviour or habit.  

Actioning New Year’s Resolutions or any resolution for that matter is about behavioural change and behavioural change is about attitudes. Attitudes are engrained over a lifetime and are not easily discarded, changed or modified. In other words just by saying it; “doesn’t make it so Captain Picard.”                                         

So really how important is it to resolve to discard, change or acquire a new behaviour, start or stop doing something associated with an attitude?

I mean just where is it that your motivation is coming from anyway? If you answer these two questions to your satisfaction, then perhaps you might be willing to pay the real price attached to achieving success with your resolutions.                                   

Are you really willing to look at who you are, where you are in time and how you got there, before you go about deciding where you want to go (resolution) and how you are going to get there? If your answer is yes, then remember that winning over your bad behaviours (i.e. eating to much, working to much, smoking, drinking,  not exercising, procrastinating, neglecting your family, watching to much TV, etc.) is about process not outcomes. In other words with a new found heightened awareness of who you are and why you behave the way that you do, you are now in a much better place to strategically set goals, prepare action plans and set out on your journey to new and exciting discoveries about yourself.              

So then why get started with this in September? Well think about it, what better time is there really. When I say this I mean it at a personal level. It represents a more likely ending and beginning than the first of the year. The start of the New Year is really no more than that, just the start of a new calendar year. There is really not much of anything else new at that time.  

Certainly not in a strategic way in the workplace nor for your kids who are half way through their school year.                

When summer vacations are over and/or the two months have passed (all too quickly I might add) things get “cranked up” again at work.          

Your employer expects that you are feeling renewed and refreshed after your time off and wants you and everyone else to push ahead with renewed vigor to complete previously set goals or too set new ones for the fall and into the winter. In other words get busy and move the organization forward.

Meanwhile back at the ranch the kids are returning to school and    beginning a new school year, new grade, perhaps new friends, even maybe a new school. When you look down from above, everything is oriented toward growth in the fall. And aren’t New Year’s Resolutions supposed to be all about growth!                   

Personal Coaching                                                                                                       

Taking a strategic approach to the accomplishment of your New Year’s Resolutions may seem like a daunting task but if you manage the process in a step-by-step fashion, taking it slowly, in bite size chunks you can get it done. My job as a Life & Business Coach is to work with my clients to do exactly what I have been talking about here. The only difference is that the time of year does not matter. You might want to consider using a coach to help you answer the questions I have been asking? The direct benefits to you and your family can be profound if that is a motivator?

Coach Ladd