How to Make a REAL New Year's Resolution

After more New Year’s celebrations  than I care to count, I’ve discovered how to make a New Year resolution that “sticks.” Below I’m sharing some realities that I have discovered about this popular endeavor.

Reality #1 — Generic resolutions such as “Grow the Business,” and “Be a Better Person” are noble ideas, but lack focus. They’re too broad, vague and generic for most of us to be held accountable. Resolutions should be custom-fit, specific and measureable. Try something like “I’ll make three sales calls every morning before 9 am.”

Reality #2 — We have short attention spans and 365 days is a very long time. By summertime, most of us forgot we even had a resolution (or 2 or 3). If we can turn our goal into a habit, we are more likely to stick to it. This points us back to the importance of being specific with our resolution.

Reality #3 — Our small changes are more satisfying and pragmatic than the sweeping transformations we dream about. Becoming an entirely new person really only happens in movies. The rest of us need to celebrate our small victories such as making a healthy choice at lunch, facing procrastination head-on with an hour of filing or finding patience for the elderly person ahead of us in line who is making us late for our next appointment.

I accept that I will not become a new “me” this year, but with a little more focus of the immediate choices and goals within my reach, I will settle on an improved version. I suggest you do the same. Happy New Year!