It’s the beginning of January – the time we all pledge to a “new you in the new year!”
The top New Year’s Resolutions for 2018 (as compiled by YouGov, a polling firm) include:
- Eat better
- Exercise more
- Spend less money
- Self-care
- Read more books
- Learn a new skill
- Get a new job
- Find a new hobby
- Focus more on appearance
- Focus on relationship
- Cut down on cigarettes/alcohol
- Go on more dates
- Focus less on appearance
But researchers at University of Scranton suggest that only 8% of people actually stick with their New Year’s Resolutions. yikes…
So, what’s the issue? Too many, too lofty, no accountability? All of it.
Essentially we have resolutions, but not solutions. We have aspirations, but not action. And as a result, we have transactions, but not transformation.
Solutions have the power to shift our aspiration to action.
Solutions require 3 things:
1. Trust: we need to trust ourselves and find others we trust to support us through change (like a coach or a mentor)
2. Goals: we need specific, actionable goals with clear measures of success
3. Structure: we need a structure that will dictate action (even when we don’t feel like it)
What do solutions look like?
- Shopping for and preparing a week of healthy meals
- Hiring a trainer or recruiting a fitness partner to meet you at the gym
- Creating a budget and documenting daily spending for 6 months
- Joining a yearlong book club
- Enrolling in a class to learn a new language or other skill
- Buying a journal to track progress
- Registering for a formal mentoring program or a coaching circle
We don’t need a calendar change to implement new solutions. We just need more intentional commitments and less perfunctory pledges.
Here’s to a year brimming with solutions!
