When I think of New Year Goals, it reminds me of Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day,” doing the same thing over and over again.
Year after year, we make (and break) the same New Year’s resolutions over and over again. More than 80% of New Year’s resolutions have failed by February. As a practicing Integrative Hypnotist for 15 years, I’ve come up with five ways to help you succeed this year.
Specific and realistic.
Rather than setting a New Year Goal to lose weight, make it “I’m going to lose 20 pounds by March 1st.” Instead of “I’m going to get organized”, make it “I’m going to organize 2 rooms by February 1st.” Those are specific and realistic. “I’m going to lose 50 pounds this month” is specific, but not realistic, and will only set you up to fail and feel bad about yourself.
K.I.S.S (Keep it simple, sweetheart)
Pick just one goal! When I first opened my hypnosis practice, clients would come in with laundry lists of things they wanted to change. I knew that hypnosis could help with each of them, and I explained that the more changes we try to make at one time, the less chance of success with any of them. When we focus all of our attention on achieving ONE New Year’s Goal, we have a greater chance of success and that success can then help us move on to the next one.
Plan!
Planning is crucial to achieving any goal. If you want to quit smoking, you need to plan the date and how you are going to do it. If you want to lose weight, you need to plan meals in advance. My client Jean is a preschool teacher and there are always treats around. She plans, prepares and brings her lunches and snacks with her so she is less tempted to grab cookies or cupcakes. If exercise is a part of your goal to lose weight, you need to plan that too. If you don’t plan for it and block out the time to get to the gym or pilates or on your yoga mat, chances are pretty high you won’t actually do it.
Chunk it down!
You will have a much greater chance of succeeding with your new year goals when you chunk your big goal into smaller achievable goals. Take “I’m going to lose 50 pounds” and chunk it down to “I’m going to lose 10 pounds a month for the next 5 months.” Change “I’m going to save money this year” to “I’m going to save $20 a week” and it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. An added benefit is you can see it adding up to $1000 at the end of the year. That’s exciting and can help keep you motivated to achieving your new year goals.
Accountability and support!
Many times clients come to me specifically because they know they need accountability and support. When we make a commitment to someone else, chances are pretty high that we will honor it. When Ben & Jerry are calling up late at night from the freezer, we cave and say “I’ll start again tomorrow” and we don’t. However, when you are accountable to someone else and have to tell then, you’d be more likely to resist the call! Sometimes we need more than just accountability, we need the support to make the change. My client Sarah didn’t know how to overcome her fear of flying. With my support, she did AND she went on to skydive and create her own very successful business as the Five Foot Traveler!
If you are ready to make 2020 your best year yet, let’s schedule a call to talk about how I can help you make that happen.
