Setting an Effective New Year's Resolution
The end of 2020 is drawing near and with 2021 looming on the horizon one might be putting their thoughts about what they can do with the new year. “What’s your New Year’s resolution?” is a common question that pours into January of the new year, but sometimes it’s a question we brush aside or simply respond with, “I’m going to be a better me.” Setting a goal can do a lot for us especially in times where we may be feeling uncertain about life, so today we’ll be going into some things to consider in order to put together a reasonable and lasting goal. So whether your goal is business, family, health, personal, or spiritual, we’ll look at some ways where these goals can be achieved.
Specific and Attainable
It’s really easy to get caught up with the enthusiasm of wanting to improve ourselves that we don’t really end up achieving our goal. Sometimes we’re even vague about it and say, “I’m going to learn a new skill.” Which doesn’t really give you anything concrete to work with. These two bits are fundamental for your goal as they give you. It’s easier to aim for something specific, so you know what you’re working on. Instead of simply saying you want to learn a new skill, try focusing on a particular skill you want to learn. Let’s take cooking for example, “I want to be a better cook by trying new recipes!” Here we say the specific skill we want to work on and how we can go about reaching it. By doing this we build a foundation to ourselves which makes our goal that much more attainable.
Process and Outcome
The end result is what we as people love to focus on, but the path to get there is often the hardest part of making the result happen. To make our goals a reality, we need to flesh out the process of getting there which means digging into how we go about making sure our goal can come together. Going off our previous example of where we said our goal is to be a better cook by trying new recipes, we need to think about how we will go about doing this. To flesh this out, we can call up a relative and ask them if there’s any family recipes they know, we could ask a few friends for something they may have up their sleeve, or we could use the trusty internet and browse for a recipe for a type of food that’s loved. As you go through your journey of figuring out how, you might feel a little bit intimidated. Press on! Nothing is ever worthwhile because it’s easy, and our process can certainly be helped by some friends. If you stick with your process, when you reach your goal it will be that more satisfying and you’ll have some memories of how you made it there. By the time we reach our outcome, we might feel motivated enough to commit ourselves to another goal and start the whole process once more!
This isn’t a comprehensive guide, and several ways of putting goals together exist from various forms such as TED Talks or from third party sources. Wherever you get your information from, it’s important to think about what you want and what is right for you. Here at the clinic, we do our best to arm you with the tools to be advocates for your health and body. In the same way you are an advocate for your goals and what you want to achieve. It’s been a long journey, and we hope to see you all next year! Happy New Year!