How To Really Keep New Years Resolutions

It happens at the first of every year. People all over are making their New Years Resolutions. But these resolutions are usually doomed to failure because they are rarely followed up with any kind of real plan on how to execute them. Hence the New Years Resolution has really suffered a bad wrap because of it. I have a few fool proof ideas for how to really keep these resolutions that will undoubtedly help you to be successful.

The first thing that you need to do in order to keep a resolution is to stop thinking about them as goals that you need to start on January 1. After all, resolutions are really just goals, aren't they? So start thinking of them as long lasting goals. Some will have an end in sight and some will be ongoing way beyond this year.

The second thing that you need to do is start making a list of the goals that you would like to achieve in the near future. You can choose your own time frame whether it is a goal you want to accomplish in the next month, next six months, next year, or next five years. Whatever you choose is up to you. There is no right or wrong selection. Don't edit your list at this point. This is a brainstorming list of everything you want to do and a general timeframe of when you want to do it.

One of our biggest problems when it comes to goal setting is not being specific enough. Simply saying "lose weight" is too generic. Instead say "lose 20 lbs". Having a goal of "be happier" sounds great and I am sure that is something you do want but you need to be more specific and list things that you think will make you happier such as "join a social club" or "go to church once a week".

After you have your master list together, look it over several times. Here is where you need to start making some decisions. Is the goal really achievable? Is it something that you really want to focus your efforts on? Start to reflect on your list and weed out those goals that you have changed your mind on. Get rid of those you no longer want and keep those that you do. Make sure that each of these goals has its own time frame for accomplishing them.

The most important next step that most people miss is to create an action plan for each goal. If you don't do this step you will are not likely going to achieve your resolution. Why is an action plan so important? The reason is because you need to have a roadmap on how you will get to the end goal. This action plan might take a little bit of time but it's an essential component to getting to the end goal.

The action plan needs to be very specific. If your goal is to lose 20 lbs then your action plan needs to have specific steps you should do to get to that goal. For example, part of your action plan would be "go to the gym three times a week" or "run 4 miles every other day" or "write down everything I have eaten for a week and evaluate my calorie intake". Those are very specific steps of the action plan that you can review and check.

Once you have created the action plan, print out a monthly calendar for each month of the year. You can do this easily in a Word or pdf file or go to google and search on calendar. There are many sites that offer them to print for free. Use this calendar to write down steps of the action plan in the calendar and make sure you put this calendar in an area of your home that you can see every day. This ensures an accountability by day, week, or month to your action plan.

Do these steps for every goal you have on your list and you will find it much easier to gauge whether or not you are successfully achieving all of the things you set out to do this year. You will also want to recalibrate your goals every so often to check in and see how you are doing.

Good luck and happy goal setting!

**follow my blog at www.terrymillerblog.wordpress.com***