Sure making a New Year’s Resolution sounds all fancy and great I just prefer to call it by what it is –goals. Creating goals can often be a difficult task. This is something people tend to procrastinate on and then it hits them in the face—the ball is dropping it's now 2018! So they make a mad dash in their brain to come up with something because for whatever reason that is just a societal thing to do. It’s almost like peer pressure by people asking “hey what’s your New Year's Resolution?”

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This often leads people to a few places:

• Things they have failed to do already
• Some highly impossible thing “I’m going end world hunger this year”
• Something very impartial “I will lose 90lbs this year all on my own”
• A joke one “well I’ll eat one less jelly donut this year”
• One that can be completed in just a single day—kind of defeats the purpose

I tend to focus on:

I like to have several New Year’s resolutions with different time frames as well.

• Short term (can be done in next 300 days)
• Medium term (1 year to 5 years)
• Long-term (5 to 10 years)

Hey why not get ahead of the curve for next year!

The first question that might come to mind is why 300 days? A year is longer than that you silly goof! Well, its simple things tend to take longer then we expect and not every day is going be a work on your goals in life day. You might be so busy that day after an 18-hour shift, or hey you went on a two-week vacation! Many goals in life fail because we set unrealistic time frames that would have been otherwise possible.

Trying to force yourself every single day into doing something can cause people to have resentment toward “that thing” that keeps them from doing other needed tasks for the day. Besides we all just need a break here and again from our normal routine.

If you have not thought about setting any goals yet or still don’t have any soiled ideas by the time it's 2018 --that’s ok. Rushing just to have “some goal” by this imaginary deadline of it having to be by New Year’s is another way to set ourselves up for failure.

Another thing the goal should be is something you can start working on today. Don’t wait until New Years to start working on something. If you can start researching or whatever steps this goal requires don’t put it off. The longer you wait to start the higher the chance you will keep putting it off and then you did it yet again. It’s now 2019 and you failed to meet your goal.

Planning:

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Now is the time to start working out the finer details. How are you going to accomplish this goal? It is best to write out a plan. Take stock of what is needed to achieve your goal or start doing some research if more information is needed. Start today not tomorrow.

Research:

Many people forget that goals tend to involve a fair amount of research to fully understand what we are getting into and what is going be needed. Along the way, you might find common pitfalls that others fell for, better ways to go about achieving that goal, or unexpected costs you did not know going into it.

Schedule:

How will this impact your schedule? Is this something you need to do daily/weekly/Monthly?

Financial Cost:

What is financial cost assorted with this goal? It is a lump sum cost of having to buy one thing. Are there going be reoccurring costs over time? Have you already set aside these costs or are you going to take a little out of every paycheck?

Milestones:

Set some milestones that you would like to accomplish within a single goal. When would you like to see these come to fruition? Often times we look at the bigger picture and forget it’s the little things that lead us down the path to victory. They are also the first indicators that we are struggling more then we think. Having that reminder that “oh I wanted to have this finished by now and it’s not” shows us we need to make changes to get back on track.

Things change:

Plans are never set in stone. If changes need to be made down the road-- make them. Cost could have gone up. What you thought was possible is not, or maybe it’s too easy and you want to push harder. Maybe it was just not possible from the start to have every little detail worked out—that’s ok.

Good luck in making a New Year’s Resolution and seeing it to its completion!

Information

Written by @enjar about my experiences in setting goals and making New Year’s Resolution.

Some of my future goals that involved making a “New Year’s Resolution” can be found in New Year’s Resolution Part 2.

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