image from nataliedee.com
So I’ve been thinking about the prevalence of New Year’s Resolutions. Every year millions of people say “oh I want to do this, or that, or be better at this”, but without structure, how many people actually achieve those resolutions?
It’s important to set realizable goals and it’s important to follow through with them – but it seems like a yearly resolution is such a grand scale, that people may find yearly goals hard to achieve.
I was browsing iCiNG today, and bookmarked a few posts on Weekly Resolutions. Every productivity/lifehack blogger will tell you that cutting yearly resolutions down into bite-size and manageable chunks is the way to success. Many of those same bloggers also tell you to be in the “success mindset”.
It seems like one might have the success mindset if one was to succeed at those manageable goals.
So starting this week (why wait till the end of 2008?!) I am going to set weekly resolutions for myself – when I succeed at the first set, I believe I will have the proper “success mindset” (notice, I didn’t say IF I succeed, I said when!) to accomplish my next set of goals.
Gala, from iCiNG, also noted that when you say your goals out loud – publicly, and when you post them where you can always see them, you’ll be more apt to follow through. One good point she noted – don’t set a page of goals, just set a few that you believe are most important, that you can follow through with. Another point, from Steve Pavlina: Instead of setting yearly resolutions, set a general area of focus. It’s okay if that area of focus changes, as long as you know where you’re directing your energy.
Without further ado, my weekly resolutions:
1. Axe those bad habits that make you feel self conscious – may be difficult but well worth the effort.
2. Stay focused – so important in this last two weeks of school where I need all the focus I can get! This, I believe I can do by arranging tasks into groups and remembering to take some quiet time to reflect outside those blocks.
3. Think about a primary focus for 2009 – this could take some reflecting, but I don’t have to set my focus until the end of the month. Just thinking on it is a jump-start. Maybe it’s like personal branding!
4. Get on top of finances for this month – I’m going to start doing a lot of “keeping track”. I need to monitor extra spending now that I’m done buying holiday gifts and get one account paid off by the end of the year. This shouldn’t be *too* hard.
5. Write down weekly resolutions – Hey! Guess what!? I just did! Already, I’ve succeeded at one goal for this week.
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