New year's resolutions vs goals
I was reading someone's post on another area, and it got me to thinking. This girl was asking for some help to keep motivated, said she was already thinking about "there's always next year" to lose the weight.
I think that this time of year a lot of people set "New Year's resolutions". They tell themselves at the beginning of the year that THIS year they are going to lose the weight. And everyone goes on a diet in January. Then they get discouraged. It isn't working as fast as they wanted, they weren't perfect enough in following their plan, they cheated, they gained a little back... maybe they just can't do it "this year". We don't have to wait for January to make a new resolution in our hearts to do better. Every day we can reset our goals, reset our thoughts to succeed.
I think that is why I stopped making "New Year's resolutions". What I do now is to set and record what my goals are for the year. I put them in a place where I can refer back to them. They aren't things like "I will NEVER...." or "I will ALWAYS..." we know those always fail. It is more like "this is what I want to accomplish before the year is out". That leaves a little wiggle room.
The goal isn't blown because I wasn't perfect on my diet every single day of the year, or if it is a financial goal, because I spent a little too much money one month...
I have all year to accomplish it, and I go back and occassionally make updates to my plan, record my progress, toward accomplishing the goal. And if I accomplish it early I record the date I did it. I try and make the goals reasonable too. Things I can do if I set my mind to it.
Weight is a tricky one because when you think about your weight for the next YEAR a lot of things can happen. You could do great and get to your ultimate goal, or you could do terribly and gain. Or you could lose half or less of what you need to lose. So by setting the goal modestly I feel I can get there. Maybe early. Maybe set a new goal once I'm there.
I think the important thing is to get rid of that "all or nothing" attitude that New Year's resolutions put in people's minds. Quickly forgotten when something isn't immediately working as well as you wanted them too.
We need to think more in terms of goals than resolutions. Goals can be achieved. Resolutions with "always" or "never" in them are doomed to fail and our mind knows it even as we set them.
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