How To Win At New Year Resolutions
How many of you can admit to having set a health goal as a new year’s resolution already this year?
With 39% of adults prioritising their health and wellness when it comes to goal setting in the new year [1], research shows we're not afraid to focus in on ourselves and improving our daily health.
In fact, a survey conducted by Forbes Advisor states, ‘Overall more than three in five people making resolutions (62%) have opted to make physical or dietary changes moving into 2024’ [2]. Whether it’s a solid intention to drink a smoothie every morning, consume less caffeine, cut out refined sugar, eat less meat; or, partake in dry January, finally get on that peloton, go to the gym regularly, start a running routine. The list GOES. ON. But why do we only focus on the physical changes we can make when it’s actually the subtle changes in brain behaviour, aka., the neuroscience behind creating new habits, that actually helps us succeed when it comes to making serious impact on our new years resolutions?
So, doesn't our mindset deserve a look in?
When it comes to improving our overall wellbeing, not only does it require steely motivation to make alterations to our daily habits but it also demands we step up to the challenge of making a daily 'change' become automatic, pushing us past the all-important dates when most of us fall of the new year band wagon of good intentions.
In fact, 'research goes on to show that 23% of people quit their resolution by the end of the first week, and 43% quit by the end of January' states Fisher College of Business [3]. So why, do we by-pass working on the mindset mastery, giving us a better chance of truly changing the way we think about creating new habits, breaking old ones and making manifest new, healthier versions of ourselves?
Neglecting the one tool in the box that could make our resolutions a raging success versus a mid-January failure may be the answer to where we have slipping up…
Authour and Motivational Speaker, Gabby Bernstein [4] made a valid point during one of her Instagram stories prior to her annual 'Manifesting Challenge' beginning on the 5th January 2024 - an annual coaching promotion she runs every year.
She suggested one reason we fail at new years resolutions is that rather than looking forward - focusing on behaving in a manner more aligned to the person we want to become in order to achieve our biggest goals - we instead make a list of all the things we are bad at, or need to stop doing, i.e a long list of new years resolutions. She describes this as focusing on the negative rather than the positive. 'I need to stop doing X' or, 'I can't do Y anymore' are what we find ourselves playing over and over again as a mantra. Whereas a ‘I am a fit and healthy person who runs every day. I am enjoying a whole new level of fitness,’ i.e. living in the present moment and creating a future vision of our best selves, is a much more powerful and productive way of realising the change we seek.
New Year Resolutions Or A Wiser Goal-Setting Strategy?
‘It’s not just about waking up on New Year’s Day and writing a long list of things you must stop doing, or have to repeatedly do without skipping a beat, in order to succeed.
Real goal setting - and achieving them - comes from a much deeper place within us all which isn’t a process we can rush…either in the planning or execution of it.’
Nicola Wilkes, founder of Seriously Stylish Business / SSB and Nicolawilkes.com
If we are honest, none of us need to be told that the moment we tell ourselves to stop doing something the temptation to do it all the more becomes intolerable. So just what is the key to creating success when it comes to making new year changes, setting goals and making the year ahead success-filled versus a resolution graveyard?
As a Success and Mindset Coach I have worked with clients over the years to help them set, and actually achieve goals. As clients can begin working with me at any time of the year, not just when the clock passes 12AM on the eve of a new one, I have fine-tuned my own processes that we use within the SSB frameworks to drive success for my clients.
When we begin working together, clarity is gained on just what it is that they really want to achieve. Then, through a repeatedly tried-and-tested method of goal setting tasks we work together to bring the goals to a point where even if they are still far in the distance (and BIG goals can be!), the client at least has a feeling of knowing that the next steps, and the next steps and the next steps, all thrown into the melting pot with a good dose of accountability and mindset mastery, will bring them closer to achieving it.
Here are a few of my top tips for new year goal setting:
1. Get crystal clear on what it is that you actually desire to create or ‘make manifest’…one of the key reasons we don’t have success with our goals is we aren’t even sure to begin with just what it is that we want to create!
2. Create a strong vision of your goals through journalling practice, visualisation or written exercise (we do many of these in our best-selling January Planning Masterclass each year. We have designed an exclusive planning guide to help shape your thoughts, create accountability as well as baby steps you can take to help you on your ways to goal-setting-success!) It is well known that the more we anchor in our visions and goals, the more likely they are to happen.
3. Speaking about the goals out loud - whether that’s in the safe space of a workshop, coaching session or through the power of mantra. This has been one of my single-most successful ways of creating my own next level. I remember vividly when I set up my previous business - a lifestyle store called House Envy - I wanted to manifest a brand new warehouse when we ran out of space for the online side of the business. I used to describe the warehouse we had to customers as if it had already happened…I literally put myself in the future vision of my business. And guess what? It all happened!
Still want to write a simple list numbered 1-10 of your new year’s resolutions? The true art of goal-setting from a place of deep, inner connection trumps a to-do list type list of manifestations every time for me. But if this is your first time changing up the attention you bring to making changes for the better in your life, I also recommend attending a workshop such as our annual January Planning Masterclass and allow an expert facilitated coach or mentor guide you through the process. We’re waking up. We’re starting to gain awareness that we are so much more powerful when we listen to our inner voices…this is the new way to make the best of the next 12 months - and beyond because don’t forget: your plans this year will impact what happens the year after and the year after that! Ready?
To join me at our best-selling January Planning Masterclass, 2024, book your seat here.
References:
[1] Drive Research, Lark Allen, 9/13/23 https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/new-years-resolutions-statistics/#:~:text=There%20seems%20to%20be%20a,goal%20of%20improving%20their%20fitness.
[2] Forbes Advisor, survey of 2,000 British Adults which are UK nationally representative, https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/life-insurance/new-years-resolution-statistics/
[3] Fisher College of Business, https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/leadreadtoday/why-most-new-years-resolutions-fail#:~:text=Researchers%20suggest%20that%20only%209,fail%20at%20New%20Year's%20resolutions.
[4] Gabby Bernstein, www.gabbybernstein.com
