January 14, 2019 New Year’s resolutions – why less is more
I have a question for you, and be honest. Over the past five years, how many times have you made a New Year’s resolution and actually seen it through?
It’s hard, I know. We always start the new year with the best of intentions. We make resolutions while we’ve got our feet up over the Christmas break, but then struggle to stick to our goals once we’re back in the daily grind of work, family and whatever else is going on in your life.
I’ve seen through three (and-a-half) over the past five years, which isn’t bad. That puts me slightly above the average – only 40 per cent of people who make resolutions actually stick to their goals, apparently. And that’s not to gloat. Far from it. If you’d asked me the same question five years ago, that number would’ve been closer to one.
The turning point for me was taking a much more holistic approach and designing my year around achieving one major goal, and using my time much more efficiently to help realise that goal.
Here’s the crux of it…
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Get clear
What are the three major things you want to achieve this year? I’m talking high level. Got your three? Okay, out of those, choose the one that’s most important to you. The one that’s going to be the most fulfilling. And make sure it’s super specific. Like, “This year, I’m going establish a side hustle to make an extra $50K a year on top of what I’m currently earning”. Whatever. Just be specific. That way, you’ll know precisely what you’re working towards achieving.
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Get focused
Next, over the coming week, I want you to work out where you’re putting your time and energy each day. And by that I want you to categorise your time – family, relationship, work, health, fitness, social media or whatever else takes up your time. You might work out that, all up, you’re spending nine hours each week on social media, for example. You’re basically looking to weed out anything that’s not helping you work towards achieving your goal and using that time more effectively elsewhere. And be ruthless.
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Start prioritising
I then want you to start prioritising your daily routine to free up time so that you can dedicate time towards working towards your goal. And make yourself accountable – you might want to set yourself a micro goal each week that helps you slowly chip away at achieving the major goal you’ve set for the year. A great way to keep you accountable, too, is to incorporate a digital workflow tool – Trello is a great free option. This will help keep you organised, week to week, and give you a birdseye of how you’re tracking towards achieving your goal.
If your one major goal has a financial component, I’m more than happy to act as a bit of a soundboard and bounce around ideas with you. Feel free to give me a shout, and we can take from there.
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