Ditch Your New Year's Resolutions

Do you struggle with keeping New Year’s resolutions as much as the rest of the world? I do. Actually, I rarely make them, because I don’t like to make promises I probably won’t keep. I had dinner with a friend recently, however, who convinced me to give up New Year’s resolutions for good—and replace them with New Year’s strategic plans.

Inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, my friend mapped out all of her goals for 2012. But she didn’t stop with the goals: She wrote out accompanying objectives, strategies and tactics too. Example: One of her goals is “Be healthier.” One of the objectives under that goal is to “Be more physically active.” One of the strategies she’ll use to reach that objective is to “Sign up for a road race.” And the tactics she’ll use to make that strategy successful include “Find a race that supports a cause [she’s] passionate about” and “Ask friends to sign up” with her.

I guarantee that she’ll be more successful than if she simply resolved to “Work out more often.” Don’t you agree? Here are the reasons I’m adopting this goal-setting system myself:

• Breaking major tasks down makes them more conquerable. Even if it was your big goal, you’d never put “Write a novel” on your to-do list, would you? Of course not. You’d break it down into baby steps: Sketch out characters. Write an outline. Write the first sentence. And so on. My friend’s system allows her to focus on individual, manageable tactics, which will ultimately lead her to reach her goals.
• The system requires a good deal of thought. My friend spent the better part of two full days crafting her plan. Devoting so much time to it means that she’s more invested in her success than if she’d simply jotted down the first three goals that popped into her head.
• It can be applied to every aspect of your life. Taking her cue from Rubin’s book, my friend considered all the topics she cared about—career, health, relationships and so on—and mapped out goals, objectives, strategies and tactics for all of them. I expect that she’ll grow a lot in 2012!

Like I said, I don’t typically write New Year’s resolutions, so I’m not worried that I’m starting a few days late this year. I’d rather devote the necessary time and thought into making it a meaningful list.

How do you handle New Year’s resolutions and goals?

By Catherine Welborn, “Bud to Boss” Blog