So it begins again — I bet you have started rolling out your new year’s resolutions. You wish to lose weight, earn more money or perhaps living healthier. Maybe you want to do something exciting, be a better person or save more money to realize your BIG dreams.
Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?
I should know. I did that long time ago like most people… except I never achieved most of my resolutions once the year came to an end.
You know WHY?
The reason is simple: I never stick with my resolutions!
Here’s what really happened. By the end of first month, I’ve forgotten almost all of them or even recalled I’ve made them. I just simply made them for the sake of making them.
In fact, there’s a research by University of Scranton (published on Dec 13th 2012) stating that ONLY 8% of people have successfully achieved their resolution.
So new year’s resolutions to me are… in most cases pretty WORTHLESS.
Is that mean you shouldn’t have resolutions at all? Nope.
Here’s a better strategy for you. Instead of making new YEAR’s resolutions, you should make new DAY’s resolutions. Each day you begin with a number of small goals that need to be achieved by the end of the day.
E.g. Today I’ve set 4 small goals for myself that I must achieve before I sleep:
- Write my script and have 3 paragraphs completed before evening.
- Listen to 30 mins of training program to learn about a new skill.
- Jog for 30 mins to exercise my body and relax my mind.
- Write and publish a blog post about new year’s resolutions. (this one)
You will find that once you make small little goals like this for yourself every single day, it will be much EASIER for you to achieve them.
There’s an old saying “Yard by yard, it’s hard. Inch by inch, it’s a cinch.” — Forget about setting goals for the entire year, that’s way too advance. Set a purposeful goal for TODAY, then another one for tomorrow… and the day after. And so on.
Then your small goals will eventually lead you to achieving your bigger goals.
So do you think having new DAY’s resolutions will be a better solution for you? If Yes, please share with me the 4 things you wish to achieve by today (not tomorrow). You may disagree with me, but I’d appreciate if you can leave a comment below and tell me WHY.
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Dear KM,
Thank you for sharing!
Very interesting! I am quite convincing by your article. However, is the last sentence “small goal will eventually lead to bigger goals” means that you need big goal first to break it into small piece?
hi Francies,
Thank you for your comment.
It means know what’s your “Ultimate Goal” is. There’s a saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going. Any road will take you there.”
Normally, most people don’t get to their BIG goal immediately. That’s why you need smaller goals (or) baby steps to help you stay focus and on track until you get to your bigger goals.
Hope this helps and thank you for reading!
Hey Bro,
You’re right. Setting little goals everyday makes EVERYTHING possible, because they don’t look as daunting as a whole long list of WISHFUL THINKING.
However, i’d still like share something i found extremely beneficial.
New Year Resolutions should never be a list. It should be just 1 thing. Yes, just ONE. Coz from that ONE thing there will be a gazillion baby steps you’ll need to plan out throughout the year, spaced out between months, weeks, days down right to the hour. Like we all know, it’s implementation that’s the killer. That’s when resolution stays on paper.
Nonetheless, it is still imperative to have that ONE supernova goal, followed by the little start busts everyday that leads up to it. It’s more manageable, realistic and plan-able this way.
How many goals will you achieve in this lifetime? Well, depends how many more years’ still ahead of you. So don’ try to cramp a lifetime of achievements in 365 days ok.
Wow Sis,
Thank you for your insightful comment. Yep, I agree with you. New year’s resolutions should never be a long long list… people should be focusing on that ONE thing they desperately wanna change in their lives.
Having said that, you remind me of all our great “teachers”… aren’t they have only ONE ultimate goal? i.e. to transform living beings from defilement to enlightenment… then they came out with all the ‘smaller goals’ to transform us step-by-step.
Thanks again.
P.S. I think you’re super good at writing… perhaps you should consider blogging and sharing your thoughts too. LOL!
Yeah, inspiration from our great teachers.
From Zero comes the One.
Haha…i just like being a busy body here adding my two cents worth on whatever you’re posting bro.