Have you lost your resolution motivation? Did you forget or just stop doing them all together? Well, no worries… You are not alone. I, too have lost that motivation, but I have found ways to get back on track.
Here are the five steps to get yourself back onto the resolution highway. That way, by the end of the year, you’ll be on track to accomplish what you set out to do!
Step 1: Admit loss. Alright, so we promised ourselves this year would be different, that we were really going to make the change, blah, blah, blah. Let’s take a moment now to cry, yell, mope, and just really feel bad for ourselves for not following through on our resolutions like we planned.
Great. Now that’s out of the way. So, let’s move on and ask ourselves who’s really judging us for not keeping up with these resolutions. Is it ourselves? If so, let’s stop sabotaging ourselves and move on.
Step 2: Are the goals really that important to you? If they were very important to us, wouldn’t we have continued doing them? Basically, if we look at our goals, we should be asking ourselves, “Is this one of my top priorities for the year?” If it is, great. Then keep it on the list. If not, then simply put a line through it and move on to the next step.
Step 3: Change them if needed. Who says we can’t change our resolutions or goals? We are evolving, changing people. Maybe when we look at our resolutions now we say, “Actually, I am not really passionate about that anymore,” or “I have other things I want to accomplish that are more important to me.” Perhaps the goal might just be outside your capacity right now, but you can break up the resolution into a smaller goal that is achievable this year. YES!
Make changes as needed. We write down resolutions because there is something about ourselves or life that we want to change, so let’s allow ourselves to be flexible, to bend, twirl, swirl, and change, so that we can enjoy the process of making our goals attainable.
Step 4: Why did you want to do this in the first place? This is an important question to ask ourselves because it’s what gives us the motivation to actually follow through with the goal. If we don’t know why we are doing something, then what is the point of doing it? Example: I take out the trash because I know if I don’t my house will smell, and bugs will come infest my place. I do not want this to happen, so I take out the trash regularly, even though I don’t want to.
If taking out trash more often was a resolution of mine, when I didn’t feel like doing it, I’d remind myself of the consequences for not following through. If you want something badly enough, you will do it because you’re clear on the reasons you want it in the first place.
Step 5: Now, stand up, dust yourself off, dry up those tears, and get back to work! Now that you have your ‘new’ new resolutions or old ones revisited, get back to work. It’s okay to try again and even fail over and over again. The year isn’t even halfway done. Even if it was, we still technically have the whole year to work on these goals and resolutions and the next year to set a new goal.
Key points: Be gentle on yourself in the process. Don’t be afraid to fail and don’t be afraid to re-evaluate and make changes. Often, we look at achieving our goals as a straight linear path, but, maybe, it really is a step forward, three to the right, one to the left, five back and twenty forward. Yeah, it’s a longer way to get to where we want to be, but we’ll get there. Hopefully, we learned something along the way and enjoyed the scenery, too!
Just remember to allow flexibility and change to occur. Life is always changing. The more flexible we are with ourselves and our life, the more we can enjoy the unfolding. Plus, there is no better way to teach our children about accomplishing our goals and dreams in life than by being a living example of how to do it.
Please share how your resolutions are going. Do you need to revisit and revise your resolutions? Did you think about setting some goals now? Leave some tips and/or comments you want to share.
