9 Tips for Resolutions Without Guilt

“New Year, Same Goal.” Joe King, American Author

January is a huge milestone for many people. They are ready to lose weight, get healthy, focus anew on their relationships, and build their businesses. Academics are taking on new challenges as well with the start of a new semester, with new courses and new students to be taught. And so, we begin the year with our New Resolutions and Good Intentions. But 90% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by the end of February because people set goals without actually taking steps to achieve them.

A resolution is a promise you make to yourself, but a goal entails making a plan. Sometimes goals are things that make you stretch, and sometimes goals are things you already know how to do, but you need a lot of structure in order to truly get them done. To recite the alphabet, you can’t go from A-Z and skip all the letters in between.

Begin by choosing a small number of doable goals and write them down: If they are not in writing, then they are only wishes. If you do not have a concrete destination in mind, it’s like allowing the wind to determine the direction of the ship you are sailing. So pick a destination you can actually reach. Stay away from grandiose goals, like climbing Mt. Everest. Instead create a doable goal work up to walking 10,000steps/day, adding five pounds to a backpack each week, until you get strong enough and create enough endurance to climb Mt. Everest.
Ask yourself: is there one thing in my life that if I did it differently on a consistent basis from what I am doing now, would make the greatest positive difference in my life? Small changes can create a “ripple effect” of widening into another small change, followed by another, and lead to other related changes. Next thing you know, you’ve generated a truly large change.
You can generate large changes by using SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Specific.) (For further explanation, see earlier post on S.M.A.R.T. and S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals. )
Once you have determined your SMART goals, begin listing the steps you need to take to meet them. For instance, if you want to finish a writing project, your list will include having a statement of purpose, an outline, time for data collection, time for analysis, and a timeframe for writing chapter by chapter.
Next, create an accountability (discipline) structure: examples include hiring a coach, joining a writing support group, keep a writing journal, have a writing partner or buddy. Pay attention to external deadlines for motivation. For instance, what is the date you have to have your dissertation finished in order to turn it in to graduate school for final approval if you want to graduate in the spring semester? If you are writing a journal article or a book, the final draft has to be in to the publisher anywhere from three to six months ahead of time to allow for revisions.
Get support from other people: Tell family and friends, “This is the year this project is going to get done, and unfortunately, that means I will have to say no to doing other things with you from time to time. Business people sometimes call this “Switch Costs” meaning “I gain something with a new action but I also lose something else.” Make sure you don’t focus on your goal to the exclusion of all else, or the goal will quickly lose its appeal.
Reward yourself at each step, instead of beating yourself up. Some people view achieving the goals or resolutions as a test you either pass or fail. It’s not good to should on yourself. These are your goals, and no one else’s. Even if you don’t meet the goal this time, it doesn’t have to go away forever. That’s like falling down and deciding that because you fell, you can never walk again.
Use powerful positive statements: Instead of “I’m a procrastinator” substitute “I work steadily toward my goals.”
Remind yourself of how you will feel when you get it done: keep the vision in mind. Visualize yourself at your publication party or on a book tour. Or how you will feel on stage getting your PhD hood from your advisor.

All this sets you up to be successful because it allows you to become more realistic about what is really attainable, and what you really want to do. By calling your resolutions plans, you have already acknowledged they can change: any day of the year can be your own personal January 1st. In fact, the Chinese New Year begins on February 3, 2011. Today is the first day of the rest of your life! It’s not too late for rededicating yourself to that New Year’s resolution: you have ten more months to fulfill those promises to yourself.