New Year’s Resolutions are a basic goal-setting exercise that can be used to start thinking about long term and mid-range goals.
There are several tricks to setting goals, and ways to work toward those goals that are essential to ensure that goal-setters are moving in the direction that they want to go through the coming year.
Understand the Path Already Traveled
Beginning in a place of gratitude, review what the goals set last year for this now-passing year. What progress was made? What were some major accomplishments in the past year?
Accomplishments can include completed goals from last year’s resolutions, but it is important to look beyond that as well. Were there important new life lessons learned? Unforeseen challenges faced? An item on the bucket list completed? All of these things count as accomplishments.
Write this list out and look at it carefully. This list can provide ideas for the coming year, as well as a sense of the direction and logical next steps.
Understand Values and Priorities
Steven Covey points out in his famous “7 Habits” that an individual’s mission in life grows and changes; his or her values grow and change as well. Changes in circumstances can drastically impact priorities, so it is useful to revisit those ideas of “what matters most” before setting long term goals and mid-range goals like New Year’s Resolutions.
One great tool for discovering these values is Covey’s Mission Statement Builder.
With a firm grasp of what is most important, it is easier to look ahead and assess long-term goals, hopes and dreams. Create a full picture of life five years from now, then again for ten years.
Look at the Necessary Steps to Achieve Goals
When setting goals, it's important that one identifies the realistic steps and action items that would be necessary to get from today’s circumstances to that five-year picture. Try to identify the very first step.
Imagine a straight line from Now to the point 5 years from now. If that first step were to be completed today, and the next tomorrow (and so on), try to assess where that would lead in one year’s time.
Make a List of All of Those Points
It’s a good idea to look at life goals from a few different perspectives. A few of the more common areas for New Year’s goals include:
- Physical (lose weight, quit smoking)
- Professional (change jobs, get a raise, change careers)
- Financial (get out of debt, establish a savings)
- Intellectual (go back to school)
Be sure to consider as many of these perspectives as possible in the mental picture of the 5 year goal, and make an exhaustive list of all of those possible steps to achieve the 5-year goals.
This list is likely to be very, very long.
Remove Those Items That Are Not 100% Controllable
When making a New Year's resolution, one may find wisdom in the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, who said, “God grant me the serenity / to accept the things I cannot change; / courage to change the things I can; / and wisdom to know the difference….”
Any item that is not 100% personally controllable should be removed or revised on the list of goals.
“Get married” would be one extreme example. There is another human being involved in that equation! It is, at best, 50% controllable. However, if that’s the end desire, what can be done and controlled in order to move toward that desire?
If a person with this desire were single, he or she could make a goal to go on ten first dates in the coming year. This doesn’t guarantee that he or she will meet that larger desire, but it will open the world up to larger opportunities.
If a person with the desire to get married is already dating Mr. or Ms. Right, then the year’s goal could be to have those important conversations that should be had prior to engagement such as whether they want children, or how finances are managed.
Remove Those Goals that Cannot be Completed in One Year
Also along these lines it is important to ensure that the goals are small enough to be accomplished in one year’s time. The only useful resolutions are those that are realistic and attainable.
Let’s say Writer Bob wants to quit his day job and write novels full-time. Great! Does he have a savings in place to pay his rent and utilities while he works toward that goal? Does he have a firm grasp of what it takes to make a living as an author?
If the answer to these questions is “no,” that means Writer Bob may have more steps he needs to take between this January and his goal than one single year can allow. Perhaps this year, Bob should set his sights on researching sources of income for writers, perhaps building a freelance portfolio, paying down debts, or building a savings.
Separate Goals from To-Do items
Goals are not one-off action items that could be checked off of a list with concerted effort on January 3rd.
- “Paint the Kitchen” is an action item, not a goal.
- “Sell House” is a goal, but it’s not 100% controllable, so it’s not a useful resolution.
- “Get House Ready to go on Market by September 2010.” is a viable resolution.
The final goal on this list encompasses action items like “paint the kitchen” while moving toward a general desire of selling the house.
A good resolution list should spawn a long and detailed to do list. It should not be a to-do list.
Keeping a Goal List – Make it Official
Take the final list of controllable, attainable goals and make them official. Possible ways to do this include:
- posting the list on your bulletin board
- keeping a document on your thumb drive or computer desktop
- posting them to your blog
- telling people about them
One great way to stay on track is to set up calendar reminders on a monthly or quarterly basis to check out that list of goals and review them throughout the year.
Working Toward New Year's Resolutions and Other Goals
Use your New Year's resolution list as a road map throughout the coming year. Use it to help align actions with priorities, and to remember those longer term goals that go beyond tomorrow’s deadline. It can also be encouraging to check off some of the goals that have been reached earlier in the year.
A regular review will also help ensure that goals are met in the one-year time frame instead of being forgotten.
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Alicia King - Alicia King has been writing for Suite 101 since June of 2007. For over a year, she was the Featured Writer for the Suite section about ...
