As we now enter the last month of the year, it’s a chance to get excited for the festivities ahead, and also reflect on the year behind us. It’s also a great opportunity to use this time to look ahead and think about the year that’s around the corner, and a time if used well, to make some plans, get ahead, and carve out some actionable and accountable goals, in order to have a sense of clarity and direction for the year ahead.
So many people enter the new year with resolutions or goals, however statistics suggest that nearly a quarter of Britons who made a resolution for 2020 failed to keep them. (YouGov), with health related resolutions being the dominating area.
The behavioural psychology as to why so many don’t follow them through is that they are too vague, not specific, and have no actions or accountability set against them. A goal to ‘exercise more’ or ‘lose weight’ are easy ways to set yourself up for failure, as they lack ways to track progress, and are unlikely to keep you motivated throughout the year.
If you are looking to set a resolution, try making it specific, with a deadline, and then create a plan on how you will do it, with some accountability. The goal should also be attached to a value, giving you your WHY as to why you want to do it. If we take ‘exercise more’ as an example we can break it down as below:
- SPECIFIC – Run an organised 5K race in order to feel energised, healthy, & more confident. (goal attached to values)
- DEADLINE – 28th February 2022 (example organised race date)
- PLAN – I will find a 5k Training plan, add scheduled training regime to diary, look out gym kit and start January 1st 2022.
- ACCOUNTABILITY
– Add reminders in phone or paper based diary/ calendar to alert me of my new regime, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6am.
– Gym gym kit placed by my bed each night. (Environmental trigger)
– Write a post it note and place it by my bed to remind me to do this in order to create this new habit.
Any new habit, as per behavioural psychology, requires a habit marker (starting in small steps), and then creating triggers that will aid the facilitation of the new habit that will help you to achieve your goal. A trigger is the cue that helps you to carry out the habit, because motivation alone is never enough. For anyone. Period. Hence why we all need them. And once you have achieved your goals that are attached to your values, and you look back in December 2023, you’ll be looking back with a smile on your face at the year that you’ve had, and the implemented changes you have made in your life, that have made you a happier and more fulfilled person. Good luck 🙂
Wishing You a Joyous Christmas and New Year.
Zoe Phillipa Hamilton
The Human Transformation Coach
www.thehumantransformationcoach.co.uk
- If you are looking for any help to set goals, or to follow them through, or to seek help on discovery of the changes you would like to make in your life, even if you don’t know what they might look like, then perhaps Coaching could be for you. Coaching is about the future you and the future life you have always wanted. Feel free to get in touch via thehumanpotentialcoach@outlook.com for more information.
