Are you ready with your New Year’s resolutions?
by Francois Coetzee
Are you ready with your New Year’s resolutions? It is still early enough not to worry about the new year. But that time of the year when we start considering how the next year will be a better one is almost upon us. Somewhere between the excess of the holidays and the first day of the new year, most of us start considering what we can change to improve our lives.
And this will be the year that we stick to our resolutions!
Or will we?
Somewhere towards the end of the year, or early in the new year, we enter into the familiar ritual of laying out the wishes and resolutions to change some undesired trait or behaviour, or to set up some ambitious achievement or desire. These resolutions and wishes may be simple ones, but more often strays towards multiple, complicated and ambitious goals. And at the end of all of these we have a momentary vision of a more successful, healthier and happier self.
Unfortunately, if you’re like most people, your resolutions will fail somewhere in the first few weeks of the new year.
Stephanie Vozzo, writing for Fast Company, shares that by the first week, 27% of us will abandon our resolutions. After two weeks 31% quit, and according to Statistic Brain just over 50% of us make it to the one-month mark. Ultimately only 8% will successfully complete their new year’s resolutions (Statistic Brain).
And not only will your resolutions fail, you will be worse off in this new year which started with so much promise and yet again fell flat on your inability to follow-through on goals that should make your life better.
In a way, resolutions are new beginnings. New beginnings that energise and vitalise us and create hope for a future that is new and bright.
Which is why the failure of resolutions has the potential to hit us hard when they fail. With the focus on success mindsets, failure becomes a dark experience which becomes doubly as dark by the loss of this new and interesting world we were hoping for.
There are many reasons why resolutions fail. Some are:
- Things you don’t really want to change
- Things you’re not ready to change
- Goals that are not clear
- Overwhelm
- Resolutions that create losses in your life
- Goals you set to impress others
- Goals that are too ambitious
- And many others…
Should we even set resolutions?
Of course we should! BUT… We must do it differently!
Motivation to do something and follow through in hard times depends on the passion that drives your resolutions. If a resolution is connected to and supported with your passions the chances that you will stick with it increases significantly.
And the simplest way to make sure that you are passionate about something is to make sure that it is aligned with your purpose, or reason for being.
So, do I know my purpose?
Too many people are convinced that purpose is something innate to us, some deep conviction that we follow and is known clearly and deeply.
But are we sure that we know our purpose?
Purpose is something that emerges over time emerges through expanding awareness about our world, what we think our world needs and how we want to exist within it.
In our webinars, we talk about arriving to your purpose through answering the big questions:
- What does the world need?
- What is it I love to do?
- What is it I am good at?
- What can I earn an income for?
In preparing for the new year, I suggest that you ponder purpose. And even if the BIG purpose evades you, a little purpose is a good start to go a long way.
And when you set your resolutions, ask yourself the important question:
How does this resolution support my purpose?
If it does not – drop it!
If it does – congratulations! You have a chance of being in the magical 8% to achieve your resolutions and make this new year a year of dream fulfilment.
I wish you well in this new year. May your resolutions be the foundation of magnificent dreams!
When you are ready for self-growth – Here are some of the ways that you can work with me:
- Book onto our Awaken the Hero Within program or our Break the Threshold! immersion program in the wilds of South Africa. In these programs we help you find your purpose and embark on a powerful process of change using the Hero’s Journey.
- One-on-one virtual coaching sessions – I have limited spots available for a select number of people who are serious about creating big change. If you are interested to take up one of these spots, please contact me for a no-obligation virtual call.
Are you ready to create your future?
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