As I recently said, this year I’m choosing happiness. Does that mean being happy is my New Year’s resolution? Absolutely not!
Why? Because I actually want this to work.
What’s wrong with a resolution?
Over the years I’ve made plenty of New Year’s resolutions but I don’t think I’ve ever really stuck to them. I bet you probably haven’t managed many either. In fact it’s a bit depressing to think about them really, isn’t it? But let’s not be too down on ourselves because I’ve realised most resolutions are really doomed to fail before Big Ben has even finished chiming.
I promised myself that this year I was going to bring my years of project management experience to bear on my personal life. As soon as I put my work hat on to start thinking about what I wanted to achieve it was glaringly obvious that ‘resolutions’ weren’t the way to go. The most critical part of any project is the goal setting and planning phase at the beginning. You can’t just rush in and expect a good outcome. New Year’s resolutions are the equivalent of turning up in the office on a Friday afternoon and declaring everyone is doing a rubbish job, telling them to have fun over the weekend and not worry about it but to come back bright and early on Monday morning and just be better.
Well if it were that easy I’d have been out of a job a long time ago and we’d all be spectacularly happy, slim, fit, tee-total non-smokers with sparkling houses, who spoke three languages, gave up work to run a successful business from home (in our spare time), traveled the world, wrote a best seller and only fed our kids homegrown organic produce after spending our days on wholesome outdoor pursuits.
In reality, New Year’s resolutions just pile on the pressure without addressing any of the causes of your problems and just lead to you feeling bad a couple of weeks later. Expecting to wake up one morning and magically change something about your life that you haven’t been able to manage up until now with no real thought or preparation is a pretty tall order. I’d never try to run a project like that so I can’t expect it to work personally.
So what do I need to think about before I try to make changes?
- What do I want to achieve?
- What is my motivation for getting there?
- Where am I starting from?
- What needs to change?
- Is my goal actually achievable?
- Do I have all the information I need to succeed?
- What has stopped me making that change before and how can I prepare for or overcome that?
- What sources of support are available and how do I access them?
- What time or resources do I need and are they available?
- When is the best time to start this and how long is it likely to take?
- Is anything coming up that may affect my progress and how can I work around that?
- Can my goal be broken down into smaller steps to make it more achievable?
So grab a note pad or download our free printable workbook below and have a go at answering these questions before you set your goals for this year. It may seem like you should capitalise on your enthusiasm and dive straight in but by taking some time to really think about the answers you’ll greatly improve your chances of success in the long run and that’s what it’s all about.
Good Luck!
I love this post. I too was a project manager in a past life. Have you read The happiness project?
Thanks Jen. I haven’t read it but I see they have a website so I’m going to have a nose this afternoon.
I so need to listen to you more often!
Ha ha, I’m great at dishing out the advice, this year I have to see if I can put it into action myself.
I haven’t managed last years goals yet! i’m going to choose happiness too though. Sounds like the best option. x
Fab, welcome on board!
This is a great post, well thought through and clear. I love a new year – the chance to start again, make fresh choices and set new goals. I am definitely going to sit down and work this through. My main goal for this year was to give myself a bit of a ‘soul detox’, I think (hope!)everything else will stem from that…
Brilliant, good luck and let me know how you get on.
I’m going to try this and make a plan too – always a week (maybe two) behind! Xx
Great! I hope it goes well.
Love this post and thanks for sending it over for the BritMums carnival, it’s so positive … now to put it to action
I totally agree with you I make resolutions and never follow through whereas with a plan it gets done.
Funny, I got here and knew I had read it before, a great reminder though. Thanks, Mich x