By Samantha Taylor, Health and Fitness Expert
New Year’s goals can be very effective when you are clear on what you want, and you have a plan to accomplish it. I love using the new year for this motivation and believe it can be a great time to get focused. However, don’t let it just be another good idea that you have no follow through on, do something different and stick to them! To set some goals here are some tips:
1) Write down on a piece of paper what you want to accomplish and by when. Carving out some time to sit down to think about this and write it out makes a difference. Put on some music, turn off all distractions like the phone, email, or social media notifications and get focused on thinking about your life.
2) Write down WHY you want it, not just the thing you want but what is the emotional reason you want it. What is it going to do for your life? What result do you want from that goal? How will it impact your family life or career? Knowing the why behind why we do things helps propel us forward when the initial “motivation” wears off.
3) Write down 3 small steps you can take to start implementing this goal. You need to get clear on an action plan. And it needs to be specific, not just “lose weight”. You must write down the steps that you are going to take to help facilitate this goal.
4) Set a reward that you will give yourself when you accomplish that goal and just as important, set a consequence if you don’t accomplish it. This step might not seem important, but it is. So, what are you going to get or give yourself for positive reinforcement when you hit that goal? And what consequence are you going to have if you don’t? An extreme example is many years ago I had a business goal to hit by a certain deadline and if I did it, I got to go on a helicopter ride in the Grand Canyon while on a business trip there. If I didn’t hit it, I wouldn’t have gotten to do that and I had to stay in a really gross hotel. And guess what? I hit my goal and went on the helicopter ride! It was amazing!
5) Track your progress. You must measure your progress in how you are you doing with what you said you were going to do. Check in with yourself daily or weekly and make yourself document if you are getting it done.
6) Adjust what you are doing if it’s not working. When you set your goals, action steps, you are tracking your progress and you realize you aren’t doing it, then you need to adjust. Perhaps your steps are either too difficult or not detailed enough but you need to change something, so you GET results.
I know these may seem like simple steps, but they work, when you work them. I encourage you to think of something you want to be different in your life. Perhaps losing weight or getting in better shape (which happens to be the #1 New Year’s goal) and really taking goal setting serious, it can totally change your life. If you want to attend my Goal Setting Workshop, go here: http://www.SamanthaTaylor.com/NewYear2024