If you live in the United States and a new year is beginning, family and friends may ask you: What is your New Year’s Resolution? Answers range from losing weight to saving more money and in a YouGov poll conducted last December 2017, 32% of respondents said they didn’t plan on making any New Year’s resolutions at all.
So, should you really start your New Year with resolutions? My simple answer to this is NO!
But let me clarify. I do like the general intention behind creating a New Year’s resolution. To me New Year’s resolutions are trying to take the opportunity of a new beginning, as our calendar changes over, to refocus on what is important to us and set a clear goal or directive for ourselves that is in alignment with our values. This of course is great and extremely important for us all to do.
The problem lies in the fact that in general that is NOT what New Year’s Resolutions ACTUALLY do in the way we usually go about setting them.
The wording of the resolutions themselves reveal it all. Resolutions are usually focused on some external activity. Take “get more exercise” as an example. To satisfy this resolution one could go to the gym more or out for regular runs. This seems reasonable enough.
The problem is that most resolutions do not indicate WHY you desire that resolution. Your purpose, your heart-felt passion or desire, your value driven force that truly should be your focus.
This is why most New Year’s Resolutions fail. They fail to reveal to you what you REALLY need to move towards your true VALUES.
One quick way to get closer to your “Why” is to give your resolution a “WHY Test”. If your resolution is to “get more exercise” and I ask you “Why do you want to get more exercise?” You might say to be healthier. I could again ask you “Why do you want to be healthier?” You might now reply “Well, being healthier means I can live a longer and happier life with my friends and family”. And now we are getting somewhere! The values, in this example, point to wanting to live a happy more fulfilled life!
Resolutions are the MEANS we feel will bring about what we truly value and want in our lives. But they are NOT what we are trying to achieve in and of themselves!
You must be connected to your “Why”, your values, to create the life you want!
So go ahead and create a New Year’s Resolution but don’t stop there! Give yourself a New Year’s Revelation and reveal to yourself your “Why” so that you can truly have a Happy New Year!!!
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