Wednesday 12 February 2014

6 tips to achieve New Year’s resolutions

 
 
 
How are you getting on your new year’s resolutions? When we are standing in the middle of February, I believe it is time to review our performance and refresh our determination.
 
One of my positive characters is ‘persistence’ and I am quite proud of it. Since I set up my new year’s resolutions and bucket lists (see my previous blog). I have been trying hard to keep my promise (especially with myself) and my strong determination has been a great help. There are tons of reasons or excuses not to keep the promise but I just hate that I can be the reason of the failure. If circumstance doesn’t allow me to keep my words, I  will need to accept the situation but I refuse to take that my laziness or lack of commitment can be a cause of breaking the promise. So far, I have been doing great and I am happy to continue my journey till the end of this year. While consciously monitoring my process, I have found some helpful actions in order to achieve my goals easier so I would like to share them with you and hope they can help you to step closer to your goals, too.
 

 
 
1.      Set up realistic and achievable goals : Beside of my determination, another reason that helps me to keep going is the scale of my goals. My goals are neither gigantic nor fancy. They are realistic and achievable. You need to know what you want to achieve and how to achieve them before setting up the goals. If the goals are not realistic, they cannot be achievable so start with small and simpler goals that can give you confidence to move your first step. One of my New Year’s resolutions is completing 100 blogs in 2014. This blog will be my 81st blog so I can already see the brightness that I will reach the goal. Goals are belonging to you to be achieved not to others to be shown so they don’t need to be glamorous.  
 
2.      Access and adjust goals if necessary : I have always believed that nothing is permanent. Goals are not exceptional. Our circumstances can be changed at any time so don’t be afraid of altering your goals if necessary. If you try hard to keep the goal which is not realistically achievable, you will get only stressed out and disappointed, and ended up ignoring the goal. Access your goals regularly (at least monthly) and adjust the goals as you need. Minimize the goal so that you can try to achieve is always better than not having a goal.  I have found that one of my goals, ‘Start up my own business’ can be bit hard to accomplish this year so I have changed my focus onto preparation of starting up my own business. I am looking into suitable on-line courses to study for the goal instead of being disappointed by the current circumstance. I believe the most important part of having goals is the journey of progressing not only the result.
 
3.      Set as many small goals as possible on the way : One of Anthony (Tony) Robbins, an American life coach mentioned in his book that our brain needs to practice more on making decisions and the best way is making small goals as many as possible. I was bit reluctant to try his idea as I thought too many goals would squeeze my neck and I would feel constantly under the pressure. However, my concern was useless (as we always worry more than necessary) and I was pleasantly surprised by the result. As many studies show that we only use very limited part of our brain and potential, I could squeeze in some more small goals and easily handle them with main goals. Such as doing push-up 10 times every day, read at least one financial article every day, create positive affirmations every week, spend at least 30 minutes for painting etc… When you have a daily goal (almost like a small promise to yourself) and complete the goal, you can feel priceless pleasure from the achievement (It doesn’t matter whether it is big or small).
 
4.      Increase the limits : When you start feeling that you are doing well with your goals, challenge yourself by increasing the limits. I started doing push-up 10 times every morning and I have increased the limit up to 25 times every day at the moment. It has changed from 10 to 15, 15 to 20 and 20 to 25. I have always had strong legs but not arms and chest so I set up the goal and I can see that my upper body became stronger. You don’t need to change or increase the limit every day or week or month if you are happy with your progressing but for me it encourages me and makes me feel better. You never know how much you can do more/better if you don’t push your limit so it is worth to try.
 
5.      Share your goals with people : I know that it can be awkward to show what your goals are and how your are managing them with people around you but it is very helpful. Share your goals what you want to achieve with your partner and close friends. When you share with them, your goals are not only staying with yourself but also with others. You will be more motivated to encouraged to reach your goals as you expressed and assured to your loved ones what you want to achieve. Be involved into other’s goals and discuss with them and encourage them to achieve. It will help to create positive relationships. Write your goals on a paper and display where you can see easily. That will remind and refresh you whenever you feel bit loose.  
 
6.      Never late : There is no certain time for making goals. If you didn’t have any chance to make New Year’s resolutions, today is the time for a new start. Sit down and think about what you wish to achieve and how you wish to live, and write down some goals. It will bring you a fresh hope to your life. If you already set up some goals but you have been bit sluggish, that is no problem as today is the day to refuel your tank to restart. Remember that being late is always better never so start now.
 
  
After about a month, I will revisit this blog and review myself how I have been doing again. I promise you that I will try to keep my words. How about you?
 
 
 

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