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Making New Years’ Resolutions That Stick
| Guest post by: Bradley Foster |
Article Overview: If you find you have made the same New Year's resolutions over and over again each year, this article will give you some tips on how to make them stick this year.
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Free Download - Hold Me Tight – Book Review By Bradley Foster |
Making New Years’ Resolutions That Stick
“This year, I resolve to make more time for myself in my schedule.” Sound familiar? Every year we make New Years’ resolutions with the idea that we will make ourselves into better people if we just make a resolution. If we could only become more fit because we buy a membership to a gym, we would all look like Venus and Adonis. But it’s not that easy. Achieving our goals is a round the clock, day in day out, month to month and year to year effort.
Nothing worth having comes easily. How many times do you see advertisements telling you that you can have what you want whether it’s a new lifestyle, more friends or nicer hair if you just buy something? But how do you make resolutions that stick and actually effect real change?
New Year just happens to be a time when many of us pause and reflect. We may become aware that something is missing from our lives or that those resolutions made last year have somehow slipped by the wayside in our busy lives. The best way to make a resolution that you are going to stick with is to consider:
How motivated am I to change?
Is my resolution in line with my long term goals?
Have I framed my resolution in a positive way?
Can I take practical steps that are reasonable and do-able
How will I make myself accountable to achieve change?
Becoming aware that something that needs to change in your life is the first step to growth, being motivated to change is another story. Let’s take my example: I want to make more time for myself instead of giving it away. I am motivated by my resolution because having more time for myself will make a big difference in my enjoyment of life. I will have time to read books, see friends, take a course or just do what I feel like in the moment. Imagine that! I’m definitely motivated!
My long term goals are to be financially independent, successful, happy, secure and having time to enjoy life. Making time for myself is in line with my long term goals and actually makes the last one more achievable. My resolution makes me feel as if I am getting closer to aligning my goals with my life. This is something I want!
Notice how I framed my resolution in a positive way. It is something I am willing to work toward because it has a good outcome for me and I will feel positive about achieving change. Feeling positive about my resolution helps me to fulfill it.
Starting today I will take steps to find more time for myself. I resolve to leave one evening unplanned each week to do what ever I feel like doing and as I tend to work through lunch I will schedule a one hour break for lunch at least once a week. Notice I am taking small steps toward my goal? I am doing what I feel I can manage. If I take too radical a change I may doom my efforts, winding up with too much time on my hands and leaving other parts of my life neglected. I can manage small changes in behavior and when I feel ready, I will take on more.
Making myself accountable is one of the biggest challenges of making resolutions stick and it is one of the reasons why we all backslide on them. I will rely on my coach to help me with this one. Each week I will check in with her to give her a progress report. When I first started working with her, she gave me a life wheel to complete. Filling the chart in, I noticed that I had been neglecting my personal life, so this became a focus of our work. Little by little I have been reclaiming more of my time for my own use while I work toward my other goals.
There’s nothing wrong with making resolutions at this time of the year because this is as good a time any to make positive changes that enhance your life. Follow the simple steps and if you are not already working with a coach, find one. A coach will help you identify your strengths and work with them to help you define the steps you must take to reach your goals. A coach will keep you on track all year long so next year you won’t be mumbling the same old resolutions from the year before. If you find that one of the main reasons you never follow through on your resolutions, it could be because you lack accountability to yourself. A coach helps keep you accountable.
Happy New Year!
And may all your resolutions stick!
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Article Tags: accountable, change, goal, motivation, New Year Resolution, postive
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About the Author: Bradley Foster RSS for Bradley's articles - Visit Bradley's website I offer professional coaching services in the following areas: career/executive/business/leadership/life/writing/relationships and creativity. I help individuals and executives define and get in step with their stated goals and values. I'm an experienced coach, having worked with hundreds of clients over the past five years, coming to coaching from a business background and as a trained therapist. My clients and I work to close the gap between who or what they say they are, or want to be, and who or what they actually are now, as expressed by their actions. I'm also a writer, and communications consultant. I have published dozens of articles in North American newspapers, websites and magazines and for Reuters and Thomson Newspapers over the past twenty years. I published a book on self-coaching with co-author, psychologist and coach, Dr. Stephen Renfrey, called Deep Coaching: A Guide to Self Directed Living. I am currently writing a book on creative life strategies. I write a monthly career column called Ask The Coach in Job Postings magazine. I also write articles and have a blog I update every week. I recently published an article on the boundary between therapy and coaching in Choice Magazine, the premier coaching journal. I am a successful entrepreneur, business development executive, and business and communication consultant before turning to executive and life coaching full-time. I have an MA from The University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science from the McGill University. I also attended The Ontario College of Art, Columbia University and I have a three year certificate in Leadership and Psychotherapy from the Gestalt Institute of Toronto. I received coach training from the Gestalt Institute and the Coach Training Institute. The breadth of my experience and the training I've done ensures that you'll get insight, clarity and direction from me. Click here to visit Bradley's website   The Goldilocks Syndrome A Timely Time Management System for Creative People SelfDiscipline A Balancing Act Resolve to stop making resolutions Successful Goal Setting |
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