By Chris Wilkinson
No judgment…but how’s your New Years resolution going? It’s right about now, this week, that people once again realize that their New Years resolution momentum is slipping. Or has died. And it’s not for lack of good intentions! We always have the best intentions.
Surveys show that more than 80 per cent of people fail at their New Years resolutions by mid-February. And less than 10 per cent are successful at year end.
Perhaps a little help for you in creating more sustaining or meaningful goals would help? I’ve learned a trick or two that strongly embolden the drive for your goals and makes them many times more likely to happen! And I’d like to share this with you.
First, emotion is the language that our wisest, deepest self recognizes and operates in. We need to fuel goals with emotion. This is probably the most important concept I could share with you. Unless you attach emotion to your goals, they will not have any drive or energy behind them. You must understand why a goal is important to your deeper self. You can do this by repeating the seven-levels-deep exercise. Ask why the goal is important to you. Whatever answer you get – ask why that is important to you. Repeat to the seventh level. A very interesting thing happens around the fourth or fifth level. Emotion enters. Meaning enters. The brain and ego take a back seat. Try it!
Second, you must visualize and put yourself in the future moment when you have achieved your goal and see it (and feel it!) when it has actually happened. This is very important. Envision yourself successful. Paint the picture in your mind’s eye with as much detail as you can. If you have a hard time believing it with feeling, back it up a bit to the point where it’s believable and achievable, then associate into that feeling of having achieved it. Powerful feeling! Marinate in that.
And third, make the goal about something bigger than you! Who are you helping and serving by achieving this important goal? Who are the important people in your life that will be positively impacted by your achievement of this goal? Connect with the deeply personal reasons why this goal is important to others, and you’ll have added rocket fuel!
If you read this and choose to connect none of these three strategies above to a goal, that suggests that the goal is just not that important to you. Move on.
On the other hand, if you have an important goal to you and you do not apply these strategies above, I cannot help you. No one can help you. You just don’t want it bad enough. Be content with where you’re at.
No one is coming to do it for you! No one is coming to rescue you! You have got to do the work, day in day out, until it feels routine. And then keep going. That’s how it works! Habits. Repetition. Persistence. You’ve really got to want it and go farther than you ever have before. The alternative? Quitting and complaining. Your choice.
Chris Wilkinson is a High Performance Coach who works with driven leaders and entrepreneurs who want to breakthrough to their next level. For more information visit www.CoachingWithChris.ca or email Chris at info@CoachingWithChris.ca