How to Have an Effective New Year’s Resolution

Many have been writing their new year’s resolution this first week of the year, and you may also have written one,  if not, make one because making resolutions will definitely set you up for something. The only problem about setting New Year’s resolutions is that people only set it and not completely plan it and work on it. In the next weeks, these people will be disappointed and end up raising their white flags. In a Forbes survey it says only 8 percent of people achieve their new year’s resolution.

Have you had times when you may have started with a burning desire to change but still ended up failing, losing those few extra pounds for example? Ever wonder why? It’s because your resolutions weren’t guided with these elements of an effective new year’s resolution.

1. BELIEVE

A belief is a feeling of certainty about something and in some ways, beliefs are what makes a person stay motivated. Christians are motivated to serve God, because they believe in promises of His rewards. Astronauts are motivated to go on with their expeditions of the unseen because they believe that there is something so great out in space. People with beliefs are the people who succeed. Martin Luther King Jr. believed he could achieve nonviolent social change, Mahatma Gandhi believed he could win independence without war for India, and in the Bible, Caleb believed he could win over giants.

The Bible says “Who is he that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes…” If you don’t really believe, then you’ve already sabotaged yourself. You’ve already created a mindset that won’t help you stay true to your resolution. When you say “I can’t”, you really cannot do it. If you say you can’t give up meat, you really can’t. If you say you can’t be happy, then you really can’t, and no matter what kind of drug you use, you won’t recover if you don’t believe.

One exercise to develop belief that will work for you so you could succeed is to communicate to the mind and to align those thoughts to your goal. Remember, the brain simply does what it’s told.  Now, remember a time when you have achieved something great. It maybe that time when you won a gold medal, finished cum laude, or recovered from an illness. Close your eyes, then immerse yourself in that situation. Remember the positive vibes, the sound, and the color of your surroundings, then place your new year’s resolution on your right hand, see the great future you’re dreaming of right at the palm of your hands, ready to be claimed, Now, what you have to do is make that dream black and white, dull and soundless. Then immediately pour all those positive feelings, the sound, and the color of that time you’ve achieved something great into the future you’re dreaming of.  This time you could already see your dream coming to life. Close your hand, then claim it, and tell yourself you can because you have already done it in the past. By now, you may have at least felt more confident about your resolution, repeat it until you completely feel powerful and confident that you can make it and achieve it, if not, repeat the exercise or modify it so that it works for you.

2. TAKE ACTION

 

Motivations, visions, and dreams are all good, but without action, they all remain useless. Actions are the key to achieving your resolutions and goals, but you know well that taking action has always been the hardest to do. Why? Because it takes discipline, hard work, pain, and a lot of things that makes us uncomfortable.

Actions will always be hard unless you develop a way that greatly reduces the pain it gives you, and one way to do that is to change what you perceive. Rather than looking at the pain it gives you, look at that compelling future you’ve just created earlier. This will motivate you as well.

Beware! All actions can either give you success or failure. So in taking action, be sure to educate yourself, give time for research and in seeking for advice. Model great people, know their strategies, and beliefs. Try praying, and you’ll be astonished of the power it brings. Many people make this as the reason not to take action. They don’t want to experience hardships and discomfort, so they just lie in bed doing nothing. Know that not doing anything is an action and this results to negative outcomes. Well, God made you for a specific purpose, and I bet it has nothing to do with you doing nothing.

3. ADAPT

Almost all successful people have experienced a lot of failures in their way to success. For example, the great Thomas Edison, who invented the incandescent light bulb, failed a thousand times, but he said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” His plans failed but he adapted. Then should you also fail 10,000 times to achieve something? Well, you may, but one way to make a shortcut is to learn how to model people.

You may have experienced failure in some ways, but you must learn to stay strong, believe, and adapt. God’s delays are not God’s denials. To have an effective new year’s resolution, you must learn to change your strategy when your action plan fails, and when it fails again, change it or modify it again, and while adapting, be sure to stay motivated and focused on the goal you’ve created.

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