 Here’s a good marker to start, if you’ve made the same New Year’s resolution more than 2 years running, give it up. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN!!! Clearly something isn’t working, so something needs to change! (Perhaps you need a life coach to help you, or is that too obvious?)
Essentially the whole goal setting process is side stepped and we seem to become invincible in the lure of a new year on the horizon. Perhaps a few drinks makes it all seem a lot easier than our previous years’ failures suggest.
With 1st January now behind us, let’s get real about our New Year’s resolutions, so real that were going to call them goals instead of resolutions!
“The strangest secret is that we become what we think about most of the time"
Earl Nightingale
To really set a great goal we need to understand that around 95 per cent of our behaviours are driven by our unconscious mind and setting a ‘causal’ goal is only using our conscious mind. Hence our behaviours are not yet changed and we really aren’t committed and sufficiently motivated towards the goal. I can imagine many of you are beginning to see where the past New Year’s resolutions have come unstuck!
There are a few tried and tested rules when it comes to goal setting:
 The goal must be written, we all know people (others of course) that don’t need to write their goals because they have them in their head. Well, news flash, in your head doesn’t count. It doesn’t make it real, and if you’ve ever forgotten anything, and we all have, guess what happens when things get a little tough on the way to our goal. That’s right we forget! So grab a pen and start writing the things that you want in your life for 2009. Begin by saying “It is now January 2009 and I have …….” Also include how having all those things will make you feel.
.jpg) When you write your goal down on paper, it must be positive. In my line of work I hear so many negative and away motivated goals. People who “Don’t want to be Broke, Fat, or Still working a job they hate.” So write down what you do want, make it positive and include everything you do want, and nothing that you don’t want.
Use present tense language in your goal. Notice before where I said “It is now January 2009”. I could have said “By December 2009“. In doing that I would be putting it out in to an uncertain future. By using present tense and being specific with our language, we are (unconsciously) able to presume that it will be done, that what we are attempting is not only achievable, it’s inevitable!
Read the goal daily and as you read it, truly infuse it with emotion, feel the feelings of having it done. Doing this daily gives our unconscious mind the direction it needs to go out and make it happen. Imagine the goal as already achieved and you can experience the success on a daily basis. I’ve taken to putting my one key goal next to my mirror in my bathroom, much to my husband’s amusement, so I can read it daily and be constantly reminded of what I’m working towards. I suggest if you’re ready to get serious, put it somewhere very visible!
 Accept that the first 4 – 6 weeks is going to be hard work, full of challenges and wrought with opportunities for you to give up. Think of any big change you’ve tackled, loosing weight, getting fit, securing a raise, they all come with challenges and most importantly I want you to make a commitment to yourself to make this happen. Decide why it’s critical, and get leverage on yourself to make it happen. Remember, you can never have excuses and results, you must choose one or the other!
“A goal casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle”
Zig Ziglar
If you’re really ready to step up and create an amazing year in 2009 and need a little assistance to get started, please give me a call on 4296 9331 or email me and we can work on it together.
If you like what I’m writing or would like to give me some feedback, I’d love to hear from you. Shoot me an email at jodie@advancedcoachingsolutions.com.au | 
