You can do it!

In the last post, I gave three tips to help you reach your New Year’s Resolutions. This post continues on that theme. As previously mentioned, about 75 percent of people abandon their resolutions. So in a room of 10 people, only 2 to 3 wILL achieve their goals. You can be among the few with these tips. 

1. Lower your standards. 

This probably sounds strange and may go against some school of thoughts. From my personal experience, I am often guilty of setting over ambitious goals. For example, I would set a goal to sell four items a week in my Etsy shop. Sounds good right? What Etsy seller doesn’t want to sell more items? I would list more items, tweak my listings and market on social networks, but the sales wouldn’t increase. I would get discouraged and feel like my efforts were in vain. But the reality is, I was doing the right things but expecting too much too soon. It would have been more realistic to set goals based on previous sales data. Setting goals too high can make the task feel impossible and create frustrations that cause you to give up completely. 

2.  Break goals into bite sizes.

This is particularly helpful for goals that take several months or a year to achieve. Let’s go back to my goal of selling four items a week. What I could have done is said: I want to sell one item a week from January to March. Getting one sale a week is more doable than four. Getting the one sale gives me the encouragement and motivation to reach a little higher. Once I have consistently sold one item a week, I could raise the bar a tad. 

A lot can be said for small steps. I don’t think big leaps are what help people reach goals long term. But a few small steps is doable and means that you are constantly moving in the direction where you want to go. 

3. Focus on frequency not duration. 

Exercise is the easiest way to relate this tip. Ideally, I want to workout five days a week for 45 minutes. Realistically, that isn’t always possibly. Stuff happens and life gets in the way. I could forget exercising all together or I could find 15 or 20 minutes in my schedule to walk around the block. No, it’s not the 45 minutes I want, but something is better than nothing. Sometimes squeezing in those short workouts is what allows me to maintain a workout routine.

The key is to stay on the saddle consistently. How long you ride the horse doesn’t matter. When you fall off the horse and stay off for an extended period of time, it’s like starting all over.  Focusing on frequency allows your to retain what you have worked so hard to achieve and keeps you moving forward. 

4. Celebrate along the way.

As long as you are breathing, you will likely be trying to improve some area of your life. Recognize that this is a life long journey and, you might as well stop every now and then and pat yourself on the back. Your very attempt to improve is a reason enough to celebrate. You’re going to make mistakes and wander off the path. When you do this, it’s a just a reminder that you are human. Celebration lifts the spirits and encourages your heart. It’s a crucial part of achieving your goals. Celebrations don’t have to be big or extravagant. You don’t have to celebrate in a way that works against your efforts. So say you work out consistently for a month, don’t eat an entire tub of ice cream to celebrate. Just go out for a ice cream and get an extra scoop.

5. Surround yourself with other ambitious guys and gals. 

I am fortunate to have hard working ambitious friends. Their work ethic motivates me to step up my game. They are my cheerleaders. They are my coaches. Look at the people close to you. Do they have goals for themselves? Are they trying to improve? If not, you might want to add finding new friends to your New Year’s Resolutions. 

Go forth and conquer!