I’m not a fan of “New Year’s Resolutions” because to me they are those wishy-washy like-to-have statements that make you feel good for the moment. Don’t get me wrong. It’s all well intended. I know because I’ve done it just like everyone else and failed at it all the time. Here’s a tip: Make yearly goals instead. Turn your New Year’s Resolutions into New Year’s Goals.
Why “Goals”? I like goals. They are not ambiguous. They help get me into the right frame of mind.
Besides, did man make landing on the moon a wishy-washy resolution? Imagine NASA deciding to blast a giant bullet into space with the “hope” of getting a person to tag the moon? That’s silly and sounds really fun! However I’m pretty sure the goal was made and a thorough ginormous level amount of planning happened to ensure the MTV logo emblazed in full zero-gravity glory. We have goals to thank for that.
A level of planning and strategizing takes place.
Strategery!
Resolutions are popular and fun, but if you want to really make them happen, don’t just blindly shoot that rocket into space. Make them goals and figure out steps to get them accomplished.
What are your goals for the new year?
In the past, I set several reachable goals across multiple aspects of my life which is an approach learned while listening to Dave Ramsey’s Podcast. Things like career, financial, spiritual, intellectual, exercise, health, nutrition, and family. Now don’t get ridiculous and set unrealistic goals. Make them realistic and attainable.
Here is what a prior year’s set of goals may have looked like:
Career: Learn what is needed to become a better manager. Learn to develop better automation framework in Java and Selenium Webdriver
Financial: Be better at sticking to a budget. Work towards an directing an additional $100/m towards retirement.
Spiritual: Pray daily with my family. Find a church to attend. Study scripture. Practice meditation.
Intellectual: Read a book or listen to 1 audio book a month.
Exercise: Create a new plan, train, and complete back-to-back marathon in Q1. Run 40 miles for 40th Bday.
Health: Continue regular check ups with doctor. Find and visit the dentist.
Nutrition: Follow nutrition of no sugar and grains, low carb, and high fat.
Family: Continue date nights. Help kids with school. Grow our family.
It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but yourself. They’re personal goals.
Where do they go?
I take almost of goals like the example above and save it as a note on my iPhone’s Notes app titled “Goals for year 20xx”.
What do I do with it?
Because you made your list and you made them attainable, expect to execute and deliver a percentage of your goals. Congratulations!
Is it Eco-friendly!
Yes! You can recycle your list. So towards the end of the year when the world is declaring the same doomed-to fail resolutions for another year, you whip out the list you had all year. Copy and Paste them into a new Note. Retitled with the next year. Scan down the list and make edits and updates to each of your categories, while taking note of all the stuff you actually did to kick butt that year!
Thanks for reading!
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