This Year, we will face another wave of people committing to the desired goal as we approach the end of the year. Whether they’re learning a language, getting in shape, or spending more time with family, New Year’s resolutions typically don’t stand the test of time. There are several reasons why New Year’s Resolutions fall through, regardless of motivation and drive. What I see in most people is a desire for change but an unwillingness to put in the work. This T.U.S. will go over why it happens each New Year and how to achieve your resolutions effortlessly.

When we look at Motivational Speakers & Life Coaches, it is essential to look at what we want them to do for us. People like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, & Les Brown all have different styles when speaking and relaying their messages. People have told me they went to their events and said they were good, but it wasn’t for them. I had people on the other side say they loved it, and they changed their lives. Now, with mixed reviews, how do we choose the right coach or program? At this point, you should understand that there is no cookie-cutter program that will work for everyone. What we must seek is the knowledge we can turn into power. All three of these men have a wealth of knowledge; it is up to us to find the Coach/Mentor that will resonate with us the most. Once you find them, it is important to follow their regiment and guidelines to continue to approve and reach new heights.

1. Why Your New Year’s Resolution(s) Fail

2. What to do to Fix it

1. The Reason why your Resolutions Fail

Choosing a New Year’s resolution is as easy as sitting on the sofa. The process of planning is the part that invokes vision and dreams, and it gives you a boost of motivation. However, that boost of motivation is only temporary. That means that even though you spend time planning and having a rush of inspiration, it will not guarantee that you accomplish your goal. I find that people like to dream of ease and success as an elevator more than a staircase. One option requires no effort, while the other option requires your total action.

As much as I would like to tell you that you can have great success with little work, that is not the reality. The reality of your goals and dreams in life will require you to take massive action. To reach success and fulfillment, you will need to direct your efforts toward the goal. For example, If you have a goal of making more money this year, what plans do you have in place? Once you have your plans in place, do you follow them or let them fade out of existence? Lastly, do you modify your dreams until they work and produce the results you are looking for?

First is the planning process, which is the easiest step in the series of steps to accomplishing your resolutions. People love to plan but take no action. This step doesn’t require much, if any, effort. That is why marriages fail too. You have one or both individuals saying what plans they will have in life or what they should do, but the reality is nothing happens from the conversation. This leads to one person feeling that the relationship is heading nowhere. When there is all this planning but no action, people start to see that there are/were no implications for their inaction. This is what also happens to your New Year’s resolutions. You have this great idea and implement a plan to follow, but it is not followed through to completion.

If a plan is not completed, you develop a learned behavior, which turns into a habit. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, I steer clear of making a hope-based promise. Yes, I get a boost of motivation around New Year’s, but it is not what I need to accomplish a goal. It’s similar to increasing motivation in the gym. When you see people working out, you get a boost of motivation to work out too. However, when people decide to ride the wave of the New Year’s motivation, eventually, it will die down. Once that happens, they will return to their normal levels of ambition. That means if someone is not ambitious for the majority of the year, they will fall back to a lower standard. This lower standard does not mean you are a terrible person, but it shows what needs to be changed to address the failure to achieve any New Resolutions you may create.

Following your plans is always easy at first, but it fades as quickly as it started. There are several reasons why people start a plan but phase out of it before completion. The first reason is that the endorphins for doing something new have worn off. This is similar to the honeymoon phase in a relationship. Once it is over, you are faced with reality. The second reason is that difficulty arises, and you a faced with an obstacle or challenge to overcome. If you can remember last week’s blog on Failure vs. Regret, I spoke amount mitigating failure. The human mind naturally wants to avoid disappointment, especially the adult mind. To get over this way of thinking, we must change how our mind sees failures, challenges, and obstacles.

Lastly is to continue to modify and monitor your progress. There is a saying, “Do not worry how much you have left, but see how far you have come.” People see the mountain of work they have to do and give up before getting any of it done. People will favor feeling helpless before they allow themselves to feel empowered. Our brain’s natural tendency is to mitigate energy expenditure and mental strain. The brain is wired to avoid stress, but when it puts off a task because of the pressure, it causes more difficulty. If we know our mind is the enemy, why are we not learning how to overcome it?

2. How to Fix & Make Sure you Achieve Your New Years Resolution This Year

Fixing our minds is not as easy as signing up for a coaching session. When you sign up for Life Coaching, you must be prepared for the work necessary for change. The mindset that I will help you attain cannot fit in your current state of being. You have to evolve and grow into a better version of yourself. Those growing pains can be painful and will require large amounts of work on your part. If you can get past the initial hurdles, you will increase the likelihood of positive change in your life. The results you want long-term should be far from your starting point, and a coach can help you start and finish.

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to get in shape. If you start going to the gym and see some change, you will be happy about it. This will prolong your motivation and keep you going until the change doesn’t appear as noticeable. What starts to happen in your mind is a belief that this working out thing is not working anymore and you should stop. In reality, you have hit a plateau that needs to be looked at by someone with experience. The reason for this is you have gone as far as you could go alone. If you are working with a trainer or coach, the process slows downs, but you will still see favorable results. Once over this slump, you will be back on the fast track to your goal.

Getting to the fast track is what we want from the start, but it is not reality. One of the things that must be addressed(fixed) is our expectations. If you need to lose a large amount of weight or gain a large sum of money, patience should be part of the plan. When you try to rush things, you will fall short of your goal most of the time. This is because it might work out one or two times or for a short while, but it is not a suitable fix for long-term change in your life. That is why we must fix this way of thinking—the way of thinking that things will come into my life quickly. There is a saying that a fast nickel is better than a slow dime. This saying represents that with time and patience, you will be in a better place.

One of the biggest reasons people fail is a lack of planning. To fix this lack of planning, you must invest time or money into yourself. The time investment will be more strenuous and cause a larger opening for you to quit or stop. This is because you do not have any skin in the game yet. People who are willing to invest in something of value will have a higher probability of changing. I am not saying to go out and buy the most expensive piece of equipment or service to turn your goal into reality. What I am saying to do is stack the deck in your favor. When you start to put the game in your favor, then you can begin to win.

Yes, planning is vital to fix your New Year’s resolution, but it is not the only fix. The following fix is to find someone who can hold you accountable. This person should be someone who has their act together and is willing to help you get to where you need to be. This person should challenge you and be fun in the process. Once you get to your goal with this person, make sure you do not get lazy or lose focus. People will get to their goal or close to it and then revert to old habits. This is the subconscious mind at work, and you will have to address your mindset at this point. I do this daily by helping people get over the problem that is holding them back or, instead, keeping them down.

Accountability will be critical in your journey because it will keep you honest. If you have not done any work to fortify your mindset, you will need to do accountability. Up until now, you have been making excuses or putting the blame on someone or something. I understand that you may have a valid reason for not going to the gym or sitting on the sofa after a long day of work, but once you do something, it becomes a habit. That habit becomes more challenging to shake the more your frequent it. Whether it be purchasing fast food or avoiding the gym, the result is you forming a habit of not doing the higher calling task.

After we adjust our planning, accountability, and mindset, we have to look at the goal. Why do you want this goal? What are you willing to do to achieve it? What are the reasons why you have not accomplished this goal before? Lastly, how long will it take to reach this goal? When you ask yourself a series of questions like this, you format your brain to think critically. This will help you reason better and come up with a plan that you can work on. For example, if I told you to make a large sum of money by tomorrow, the probability of you succeeding is low. That is because of a lack of planning and the subconscious mind at work.

To achieve our resolutions, we must be forward thinkers. This is not to mistake living in the future. This is to plan out far enough ahead to ensure you have ample time to accomplish what goal you set for yourself. The other factor is not making extra time; otherwise, you will create space for procrastination to form. The goal should be to streamline the process rather than make it confusing and more challenging.

In closing, people fail to reach their New Year’s resolutions because they do not have what it takes now. They do not have the discipline or the mindset needed to remain consistent in attaining their goals. Well, for those people, I have great news for you! I have a new workshop that can streamline, create goals, and make sure you fulfill them. This will be a one-time purchase plan that gets sent to your email after you sign up and schedule a call with me. I want to make sure you can finally get out of the habit of letting your goals wait for the following year. It is time for us to attain the life we desire for ourselves now!

Until then,

Michael Rearden

Founder of Reven LLC.