Plans for the new year …

Are you making a list of resolutions for 2015? Many people are busy making that list. However, there are many recent articles that claim that most people never succeed in achieving those resolutions; many don’t make it past a month or two. So how about looking at New Year’s resolutions in a different way?

Turning Resolutions into Goals

Having resolutions seems so formal - you are going to resolve to do something. The dictionary defines resolve as the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc. Seems pretty formal and rigid to me. Instead, try setting some goals that are meaningful to you - goals that, when achieved, will make your life better. Choose personal goals - not goals that are typical or you think are expected of you. If you find the right goals, you’ll likely find that meeting one goal helps you meet other goals. Keep the list short … don’t try to do it all. If you complete the list, you can add more goals or take a break.

Goals and Action Steps

Goals should be general. To achieve them, however, you may have many specific action steps. For example, I have four general goals:

• To nurture relationships
• To eat healthier
• To be creative
• To eliminate clutter

Under each goal, I have identified several action steps. For example, under “To nurture relationships” I included: spending more time with the grandkids, spending more time with friends, making lunch appointments, attending social events with family, etc. Under “Eating Healthier” I’ve included: eating out less, trying new “healthy” recipes, including healthy snacks, etc. With actions steps, you give yourself choices - various ways to achieve your goal - thus making it easier to achieve the goal. If your goals are like mine, they may turn into lifelong goals - a way of life - with new action steps along the way. Again, choose whatever makes your life better.

And finally, post your goals where you will see them often. As the saying goes, ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ In keeping with my goal to be creative, I used the word cloud generator, Tagxedo (www.Tagxedo.com) to create a picture of my goals (instead of a basic, boring list). It’s fun and it’s easy. I simply printed the photo and taped it up, near my computer.

But most importantly, focus on what you’ve accomplished and what you can accomplish, not what you haven’t accomplished. Perhaps you will still be working on your goals at the end of 2015. Or perhaps you will be ready with more goals for 2016.

If you tried to do something and failed, you are vastly better off than if you tried nothing and succeeded. … Richard Martin Stern