Few are the days we discard the alarm clock, trusting the
international anticipation of tomorrow and euphoria of life to keep us awake.
But as December 31st blends into January 1st,
as one day ends and another begins marking not just another month but a new
year, we recognize a season of hope. Renewal. The season of resolutions.
We all have succumbed to thinking them. Since childhood
we’ve been conditioned to bettering our lives and it all starts on the first
day of each year. To break a bad habit. Start a good one. Lost five pounds. Try
five new things. Floss every day. Quit smoking. End a relationship. We resolve
to bridge the gap between where we are and where the happiness resides outside
of our reach.
Personal or professional, resolutions don’t just have to
take place in January. The most important factor is that they solve an issue.
If we slow down and enunciate the word that trips us up
emotionally, we’d recognize that resolution sounds a lot like solution. That’s
because the word is a derivative of solution.
Too often when we think of resolutions we set before us new
hurdles, thus new problems to solve.
This year, we challenge you to follow this five step plan to
fulfill your 2016 dream, to successfully SOLVING your resolutions:
1) Identify: Realize what the problem is – what it is you want
to change.
2) Analyze: Create a custom, tangible plan with bite size
manageable steps
3) Pace: Pace yourself. One of the reasons people often give up
on their resolutions is because they forget it should be more than a marathon.
It’s a lifestyle, it’s long-run. If your goal was to floss every day but you
kicked off by flossing five times in one day – overkill will kill your
momentum.
4) Forgive: If you skip a day, two or three, pick yourself back
up and keep going. The worse thing you can do after inadvertently missing day
five of mark, is purposely miss day six because you think you’ve lost too much
momentum or failed the system.
5) Reward: Incentivize yourself. Don’t wait until the end of
the year to determine if you achieved your maximum potential. Highlight your
calendar with several future dated celebratory milestones to benchmark your
success. Everyone needs a little sticks and carrots to keep them going. Figure
out what your carrot is and keep it forefront wherever you are.
- The Green Couch
