I'm a big believer in resolutions and think New Years Day is a wonderful date to begin. If you are interested in creating a change in your life I'm going to share a few pointers to help make the transition as easy as it can be.
The first step is to create a resolution that can be easily measured. Instead of making some sort of global statement such as, "I want to be happy," create a goal that can be monitored and measured to see the change take place.
In preparation for this entry I did a little reading and found a list of the ten most common resolutions. Some were great--clearly defined and discrete--and others, well, not so much.One great example is number four on the list, "I want to quit smoking. That is a very clear and really easy goal to measure. Simply quit smoking. If you go three days and then put one in your mouth, you have had three days of success. The next day give it another go and see how many days you can continue without smoking. This is a goal that is nice, simple and to the point.
What's an example of a bad goal? How about number five, "enjoy life more?" What does that mean? How can you measure "enjoying life?"
The spirit of the goal is wonderful--who wouldn't like to enjoy life more? But if you want that to be a goal, that is not the way to get there. You need to list specific activities that you enjoy and then determine how frequently--daily, weekly or monthly--you want that to occur.
For example, if you like going to art galleries, pick one day a week and go to a gallery. This still relates to enjoying life but now it has a real goal connected to it. Did you go to an art gallery last week? If so, you met your goal and should be one step closer to having a happier life. If not, find out what is keeping you from getting there and give it another shot. Congrats!
In a day or two we'll talk about the next step in the process--creating realistic goals.
Happy New Years!
P.S. To see the complete list of top ten goals click here
No comments:
Post a Comment