Author: Jim Bouchard (10 Articles)
Jim is now a regular at ‘Change Your Thoughts’, if you haven’t already visited his site I would urge you to have a look. Jim is an author, businessman, personal development trainer, black belt Karate instructor, football coach….the list goes on. He is the creator of the Dynamic Components of Personal Power program. Visit Jim’s site at www.jimbouchard.org for more information on his self development program. Popularity: 12% [?]
Do you set New Year resolutions? If you did, you’re in the company of about 40% of Americans and about 9 million people in the UK. If you did set some resolutions, there’s a 50/50 chance you’re going to fail in your resolutions before the end of January, slightly higher if you’re residents of the British Isles!
That’s depressing!
Why do we have such a hard time keeping New Year resolutions? Well, because resolutions suck! At least that’s my opinion.
The experts have a more informed view on the matter. Psychologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center and University of Toronto have been puzzling over New Year resolution failure for some time. Their conclusions:
- Most resolutions are too vague
- Goals are unrealistic.
As I said, resolutions suck! If you’re going to succeed this year, forget the resolutions and start your New Year REVOLUTION. Change completely the way you look at setting goals for the New Year and start with specific, manageable goals you know you can accomplish.
Identify your Goals
To do this, you’ve first got to identify which goals excite you the most; to generate personal power you start with motivation. You’ve got to identify which goals provide the strongest motivation for you to take action.
I’ve found that most New Year goals fall into one of these two categories: things you want to do and things you want to stop doing! You’ve got to identify what you’re really motivated to do or stop doing.
From there, you need an investigation phase. You’ve got to determine whether or not you’ve got the resources necessary to see these goals through to a successful conclusion. You’ve got to have material, emotional and spiritual resources in sufficient quantity to sustain your efforts. If you lack resources in a particular area, don’t be discouraged: you may set new goals based on generating the resources you’ll need to attack a larger ambition. This goal may become a more manageable first step in accomplishing something greater.
Once you determine what motivates you and what resources you have to bring to bear right now, you can prioritize your goals based on which goals give you the greatest probability of success. Those become your REVOLUTIONS for the coming year!
Steven Aitchison has been a great help in getting my message out to the world. As a small expression of gratitude, I’m making a FREE program available for readers of “Change Your Thoughts.” New Year REVOLUTION features a complete workbook and audio program to help you create your REVOLUTION. Click here to download your manual and listen to the audio program.
Feel free to share these materials with everyone you know! (Just be sure to follow the guidelines for sharing in the manual…I’m asking you to share the materials in their complete form and tell people where you got this powerful information!)
For readers in Britain, if you really want to succeed in your New Year vows, find a Welshman! It seems 84% of resolution setters in Wales make it through the first month according to Unbiased.co.uk. My wife, a proud member of the Armstrong Clan, will be dismayed to hear that the Scots are the worst resolution keepers at only 28%! Since the Scots like the Americans are fond of REVOLUTIONs, this is the year to get raise that percentage to successful levels!
Make your first resolution to create your New Year REVOLUTION and start yourself on the path of success.
Best thoughts for Success & Happiness in the New Year!
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
As a proud Scot I am very disappointed to hear that we are the worst at keeping our resolutions. I will hopefully keep the side going when I make my plans.
Jim thanks for a great article and thanks for making the audio and pdf available for our readers.
Steve
I find it very helpful to set Goals in small increments
Kind of like corporations do with quarterly plans – keep them realistic and something that leads to one MAIN goal and you can’t fail.
Alex,
You’re right on! A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step…then it continues with the next step and so on. Setting realistic goals is a big part of success.
In the REVOLUTION program I give some worksheets to do just that, and to analyze the resources you have emotionally, spiritually and materially to achieve your goals.
Steve…DON’T WORRY! Remember, a Scot was the first man on the moon! If a Scot can do that…
Best thoughts!
Jim
Jim:
Thanks for mentioning the University of Maryland Medical Center in your New Year’s Resolutions post.
For those who may be interested, here’s the link to our New Year’s Resolution Guide: http://www.umm.edu/features/resolutions_guide.htm
Chris Lindsley
UMMC Web Site Editor
Chris,
Thanks for the post and for the link to your resources!
For those interested, University of Maryland has some very interesting information on resolutions!
Very nice, appreciate the work you’ve put in to this. It’s always inspiring to see someone give something for free, shows their depth of character.
Dunno about resolutions, never tried them!
Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.
Jim,
Much appreciate you giving this for free. I would spread the word around – quite a few of my buddies can use this
—————————————
My Positivity Blog http://positivityhub.com/
My pleasure!
Please pass this along to as many people as you wish! Please make mention of “Change Your Thoughts” when you do!
I also do live events for New Year REVOLUTION…Call me at 800-786-8502 to book!
Thanks,
Jim
Nice post. I never started hitting my goals until I learned how to maintain my focus throughout the year and stick to just a couple of goals.
Martin