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With January behind us, how many of you kept those New Year's resolutions you wrote down before the ball dropped? There's no shame in losing hold of that resolution. In fact, 90% of people don't see their resolutions through January. Why is that?
Well, the most effective way to guarantee success is to plan for success. You don't bake a cake for the first time without ingredients and a recipe. You need structure to tell you when, what, and why you need what you need. Goals have a timeline, whereas a resolution is usually the seed of desire that wants a result without a path.
If you watched this month's video, you may remember we referred to something called Kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy that can be broken down into four simple steps when tackling productive change.
Step 1: Idenfity one small, specific area of your life you would like to change.
It's very easy to think a little too big when coming up with a New Year's resolution. The thought of a whole year to do something spectacular can be quite deceiving if you overload yourself. Start minimally, but with specificity, such as:
- Successfully growing a potato
- Save XX% of every paycheck
- Sell your home
Step 2: Take time to examine where your resources might be misdirected.
Quite straight forward. Place your efforts in the right aspects of your goal. Sometimes this happens because a goal feels "too simple", but simple in the right direction is better than complex in the wrong.
Step 3: Focus on making small, incremental steps toward your goal.
Baby steps are very important to any goal. It almost never takes a single action for achievement, it's a path of choices and movements. Rather than focusing on how far away you are from your end goal, focus on how close and easy the next step is from your current position.
Step 4: Commit to a time each week to review progress, evaluate what's working, and what needs to adjust.
Reflection is important to keep your ship from sinking. Continuously revisiting your goal helps keep your progress on the radar. Being fluid with what you need for your goal and what you need to fulfill your day-to-day responsibilities is important for keeping both within reach.
We will leave you with some goal suggestions below. Happy Valentine's Day!
