Happy new year! Hope everyone had a restful and safe new year. It's that time of the year when our social media fills up with everyone's new year's resolutions for the upcoming year. With a new year comes a lengthy list of goals we would like to achieve. However, a couple of days later, we soon forget what goals we even set in the first place! I'm sure we can all relate to feeling so motivated, but soon, losing motivation to carry these goals through. So, let's explore why a majority of us fail in being consistent and what we can finally do to make 2022 our year.
There is one crucial step most of us ignore before setting our goals. It is reflecting and taking a look at the previous year. We must celebrate and realise all our accomplishments- no matter how big or small they were. When we reflect on what worked in 2021 and what did not work, we can learn from our mistakes and become wiser in the new year.
"The more reflective you are, the more effective you are." - Pete Hall & Alisa Simoral.
The reason why many of us are unable to persist with our goals comes down to systems. In this case, the concept of a 'system' is used as a broad term to describe how we break down our goals, hold ourselves accountable and the mindset and intentions we have during the process. Let's explore what factors create resistance in achieving our goals and how they can be solved.
The goal is too unrealistic
This refers to when a goal is either too hard or too easy to carry out. When a goal is too hard to be accomplished it can be intimidating to approach- leading to more procrastination to carry it out. On the other hand, when a goal is too easy, there is no sense of reward or accomplishment leading to low motivation.
Solution:
When you set your goals, be mindful and realistic. One tip is to visualise the type of person you would like to be at the end of 2022. From this, you can explore and create more intentional goals that support the person you would like to develop into this year. This also allows you to have a stronger reason for setting this goal- giving you more purpose and motivation to keep persisting.
Lack of planning and accountability
With the overwhelming amount of distractions from our daily lives, it is easy to forget the goals we set. Consequentially, if we forget what goals we set, they will not be worked on and soon we lose motivation to even give it another attempt.
Solution:
Create a system to frequently review and track your goals. A good tool to use is a habit tracker- which enables you to track your goals daily. This creates a rewarding experience as you can visually see that you are taking small steps to reach a greater goal. In addition to a tracking system, creating a review system allows you to celebrate the effort you have been putting into achieving your goal- while allowing you to make any adjustments and learn from your journey. We must keep in mind that sticking to our goals require changes to our lifestyles and change is not something that can be done overnight. We must treat this like a marathon, not a sprint. So keep in mind that there will be some days where you will not achieve the goals you set, however, just realise that it is okay and this is all part of the process of developing. As the saying goes 'consistency is key'.
Now that we have covered why most of us fail to keep consistent and what we can to do overcome them, we can focus on how to set our goals for 2022!
As mentioned above, creating a vision board is a useful tool that supports creating more purposeful goals. It is great to have a range of goals, however, to be more effective try to prioritise a few that are the most important to you. This allows you to focus on these few- making it less intimidating to keep on track. Some categories I like to focus on when setting my goals are my career and academic goals- focusing on what type of skills I want to develop and learn and the new experiences I would like to encounter. Additionally, personal goals consisting of health, creativity and relationships are ones you can also focus on to make sure that you are balancing your personal and professional life!