The Blog

The Fatal New Year’s Resolution Trap –

Is this a pattern you have repeated over and over?

My wish is each and every one of you is more excited than ever for what the New Year has to offer. The holidays are a great time to enjoy friends, family, food, and have fun. It’s also a time to reflect on the past years events, experiences, lessons, accomplishments and hopefully some challenges that you have grown from.

Of course there are those specific areas that gnaw at us and we know we have to change. We tell people we want to change something in our lives and then declare it as our New Year’s resolution. Well, how’s that one been working out for you over the past few years?

I am a firm believer that “Public Declaration = Manifestation”. There is much more underneath this to make it all take place. I have found with most people I coach, a New Year’s resolution is a goal or just a good idea. Well neither of those is going to get it done, you must make a commitment. Without commitment it’s no wonder most resolutions fail in the first 30 days of the New Year. Here is a process I share with those I work with on an individual one-on-one basis:

1. Get a journal. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, a spiral notebook will do.
2. In a stream of consciousness write down all things that you want to change or experience in all areas of your life. Write freely without limitations. PUT PEN TO PAPER. Write them in the present tense. Act and speak as if.
3. Next to each one of the above write down what is or has gotten in the way.
4. Write down what you feel will get in the way going forward.
5. Write down what support you will need to keep your commitments.
6. Write down the action steps you must take.
7. Write down what you will experience when you keep your commitments. Meditate, internalize and visualize the outcome.
8. Find someone you know or hire someone that you respect and trust will hold you accountable to, A. Declare your commitments to. B. Have specific check-ins to measure your progress.
9. Align and enroll all the people you will need support from. The more people you declare your commitments to the more likely they will come to fruition. No one wants to be a liar. 🙂
10. Now, detach from the outcome and attach to the process.

Everything in life is a choice. The most critical choice for you to make around your New Year’s resolution is if you are going to stay in the pattern of throwing out some great idea that sounds good and fails, or making specific, measurable, and actionable commitments that will be constantly measured by someone else to finally Interrupt The Pattern of your failed resolutions.

Explore The Process of interrupting the fatal New Year’s Resolution trap.