| |
| |
|
Goal Setting Information |
|
|
|
Forget New Years Resolutions -- They Dont Work
You can forget about making New Year's Resolutions if you're hoping for a successful outcome. Most aren't worth the paper they're written on. No less than Mark Twain has written of New Year's Resolutions, "Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever." The biggest majority of New Year's Resolutions have gone by the wayside before January is over and most won't even be remembered six months later. And the reason is pretty simple: Most are made in response to something negative -- a habit or situation that the person wants to change or end. And therein lies the problem - it's hard to develop momentum from a negative response. It is always easier to move toward something rather than away from something. Consider one of the most adopted resolutions --- weight loss. No one can get excited about losing weight because it requires deprivation. It's a negative response to concerns about appearance, health, etc. The results of weight loss Resolutions demonstrate their weakness. A 1998 survey sponsored by Gardenburger found that more than three-fourths of all women between the ages of 25 and 54 make diet and weight-loss plans each year.Nearly nine of 10 respondents reported only occasional or no success, while almost half lost little or actually gained weight instead. The people who succeed at losing weight and maintaining the loss have usually been motivated by a dream much bigger and more positive than just losing weight. They see themselves living a healthy lifestyle. They begin to act and think like people who are in good physical shape. There's more of a radical change in a person's thinking and actions than you see with most resolutions. It wouldn't be possible to effect and sustain such a radical change unless the person is motivated by a big dream that is positive in nature. Another popular aim is to quit smoking. And I can certainly relate to that -- I was a three-pack-a-day smoker until I celebrated a smoke-free New Year's twelve years ago. For over twenty years I had tried to quit many times using every tool and technique I heard about. But as long as I was trying to quit, I couldn't break the grip. Instead, I developed a dream to become a non-smoker. I fell in love with the idea of breathing clean air instead of smoky air, of my body and clothes smelling nice instead of smoky. I thought about how wonderful it would be to taste food again. I decided to start acting and thinking like a non-smoker, and when the thinking took hold I simply quit smoking. In all the years since, I've never wanted another cigarette, never even thought about wanting one. If you're going to make a New Year's Resolution this year, make one with a high probability for success. Make a Resolution to develop a life plan. Most people are in a free-fall through life, careening from one crisis to the next. They wake up one day and 10, 20, 30 or more years have passed and they're nowhere near where they thought or hoped they'd be. Working with a life plan you're much more apt to be excited by what the future brings even if you succeed at attaining only a small part of your plan. A life plan should address all areas of your life including finances, health, relationships, career, spiritual and even recreational. While a lot of our focus tends to be on financial issues like increasing income or decreasing debt, or health issues like losing weight or quitting smoking, the undeniable truth is that a life lived out of balance isn't a life of quality at all. If you were going to build a new house and you had this idea for a fabulous master bedroom suite, you wouldn't rush out and start building the master bedroom. You'd have a complete plan before you started. When you approach resolutions and goals in the same manner, you end up with a much better chance of achieving success. Copyright © 2004 Vic Johnson Vic Johnson is a popular motivational speaker, author and Internet Infopreneur who has created some of the most visited personal development sites on the Web, including the goal setting portal, http://www.Goals2005.com that features goal setting programs and software as well as weight loss, smoking cessation and debt reduction solutions.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Habits What I Want For You Think for a moment about your Self. Is there something that you would like to have, somewhere you would like to go, or something you would like to do? What is holding you back? I can probably guess at the possible answers:"Not enough money. Elephants Are Really Big, Arent They? In fact, this very type font I am using is called Elephant! I looked around and I didn't find any type fonts named Ant or Dog or Cat, Just Elephant.Ok, so what's the point and how does this help you in my Network Marketing business?Well, let's pretend you were really, really hungry and the only thing left in the world was you and the Elephant. 11 Questions To Kickstart Your Dream What's your dream? Want to give your vision a jumpstart? Write down your goals and use these questions to speed up delivery of your dream.1. If You Dont Know Where Youre Going, Any Road Will Get You There What do you want to achieve?Before you actually set up, decide what you want to achieve with your business. If you are already in business, review where you are going - are you clear about this?Why not take some time out to think about and write down your goals for your business?Write it downResearch shows that only 3% of people write down their goals, and on average these people earn 10 times those who don't have goals. Goals "A successful attempt at scoring"Let's break that definition of Goals down a little. When you attempt a goal, does that mean you hit the mark you were shooting for? Or does it mean you tried? And if you tried [attempted] and did not hit the goal you intended does that mean the attempt had no value? When a baby attempts to take the 1st step and falls, have they moved a little closer to walking? Of course he or she has! Success is at every "attempt"Love Goals or hate them, most successful people set Goals. 2003... Got Goals? Ask anybody on January 2nd 2003 if they have New Years Resolutions or goals and nine out of ten will say, "Yes!" .. Focus = Clarity Photographs are clearer when they are in focus. When they are out of focus, they are blurry, indistinct. New Years Resolutions? Dont Be So Hard On Yourself Have you set resolutions for yourself to accomplish in 2005? Maybe you want to get more exercise, eat healthier, or spend more time with your family. If you're in business for yourself, maybe you are thinking about hiring a bookkeeper, working fewer hours, or beefing up your marketing plan. Action Achieves Goals - Talk Is Cheap It is very easy and a lot of fun to talk about dreams and goals and a great future. Achieving these dreams is not so easy as all wise people know. I Need to Accomplish Something Do you have trouble taking a day off? Boy, I do. When I take a day off I lie around all day, read novels, eat whatever I want, take a nap, and generally do whatever I want. Goal Setting and Goal Getting: The BD3 Approach Most people have no problem setting goals. At the same time, most people have a great deal of trouble getting their goals. How To Become A Polished Public Speaker In Just One (1) Day The fear of speaking in public ranks right up there with the fear of death. I had the same fear myself until I was chosen to be an electronics trainer for the Air Force. Are You Stuck? Consider Changing Your Focus! If you sometimes feel as though you're caught in life's quicksand, you have a lot of company. We work, we struggle, we try to do everything we possibly can to move on to a higher level of well-being but it seems like the harder we work, the more stuck we get. What Do You Really, Really, Really Want? If the 90s British pop sensation 'the Spice Girls' ever get remembered for anything, I hope it's for bringing the question 'now tell me what you want, what you really, really want?' to the mass consciousnessNow you may laugh at this, but when you really, really think about it, is there a more important question you could ask yourself?What is a want?A want is a desire. Whether or not we get what we want is often based upon the strength of our desires. Set Positive Goals And Strive To Achieve Them On 31st January 2005, two students from my martial arts school took tests to gain important qualifications in the modern martial art of Choikwangdo.Choikwangdo is a martial art which concentrates on self-defence, health and success in general. Be Discontented With The Status Quo It is natural to be satisfied with the way things are; but the moment we settle for how things are, we give up the opportunity to experience how things could be. Life is evolutionary, but only if we allow it to be. Ready, Fire, Aim Does the sub-title to this edition of Footprints and Monuments sound familiar? It does to me in a very real way. When I was a teenager my dad and I loved to go hunting. How To Keep Your Resolutions and Reach Your Goals Another year has flown by and here you are at the beginning of another year. This is a time when many people assess their life and make "new year resolutions" or set goals for the New Year. Dont Mistake Activity For Achievement I remember watching an NBA Basketball Game on t.v one night. Why, When You Set Goals, Do You Fail to Reach Them? Why is it when you set goals for yourself most of them are not realised?How is it that intelligent people, who take time out to refocus and decide what they want to do with the rest of their life, don't follow through?How is that friendly outgoing people who makes friends easily and are really good fun to be with find it difficult to keep to their own goals?How is it that people who hold down difficult and stressful jobs find it difficult to break habits that cause them so much physical, psychological and social discomfort?How is it that even though you buy numerous self help books. Even though you understand all the facts and issues you still can't stick to your goal?So what is it?What is it that bright, capable people can't grasp?What's the answer?You are working from the wrong premise.
|
| Article List | Index | Site Map |
|
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved. |
