Breaking the Cycle of Failed New Year's Resolutions
Using intentional strategies to overcome the common mistakes of goal setting.
You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.
James Clear
Everything in our lives from technology to food to culture is pulling us in the wrong direction. Without a clear plan, we default to what’s easy and succumb to the forces that are pulling us farther away from where we want to be.
Despite the challenge, we all want to become better. We dream of the better version of ourselves that we know we could and should be.
Every 12 months when one year turns into the next we create resolutions and goals to once again try to become that better version of ourselves.
They keep us on the right track for a little while, but inevitably the newfound motivation fizzles out and we revert back to battling against the status quo.
Every year we fail we lose faith in our ability to accomplish anything, but even a small success gives us the confidence to keep improving. If we implement intentional strategies when planning our goals for the upcoming year, we can avoid the common mistakes that hold us back and build the confidence needed to continually become a better version of ourselves.
The Pitfalls of Planning
None of us struggle to identify what we want to improve. The mistakes we make in trying to become a bit better aren’t about what we want to improve, but how we do it.
One of the first mistakes we make is blindly looking forward without reviewing what we’ve done in the past. Without a thorough review of the past, we repeat the same mistakes and fail to learn from our experience.
Similarly, we rarely take the time to get our thoughts and ideas out of our heads. We spend tons of time thinking about what we are doing, what other people are doing, and what we want to be doing and we inform our goals and actions based on the abstract thoughts and assumptions floating around in our heads.
The last and biggest mistake we make when trying to become better is failing to map our goals to our lives. Without a plan, we might have a stated goal, but we still wake up every morning and do the same things that we’ve always done.
Sustainable and Powerful Plans for the Future
To achieve something we’ve never done before we need to do more than write down a New Year’s resolution. We need to carefully review our past to inform the future, clarify ambiguous thoughts into concrete ideas, and build a plan to execute the actions that will create the results we want.
Before planning for the future we should perform a past year review where we look back at everything we’ve done in the last year. Then we identify what we liked and want to do more of and what we disliked and want to do less of. Although simple, this is a powerful exercise that provides the clarity needed to choose our priorities.
Once we understand our priorities we should get the abstract thoughts out of our heads and turn them into concrete ideas and opinions. The best way to do this is putting a pen to paper and using writing to think, otherwise known as journaling.
When we’re forced to put our thoughts on the page we can quickly identify assumptions or hidden motivations that weren’t obvious in our heads, but become clear as day on paper.
Once we know we’ve identified what’s most important and refined our thinking through writing, we need to map our grand goals to the mundane realities of everyday life.
The path to losing 25 pounds or getting a promotion is difficult and ambiguous. Without a clear plan to make progress, our brain gives up because we don’t know where to start or what to do next.
Implementing something like Cal Newport’s Multi-Scale Planning, allows us to chart a path forward on daily, weekly, and quarterly time frames.
When we know our actions today support our goals for the week and our goals for the week support our goals for the quarter and our goals for the quarter support our goals for the year, we give ourselves the confidence and clarity needed to stay consistent and motivated throughout the year so we execute the small daily actions that create meaningful progress over time.
There are many forces pulling us in the wrong direction, but if we think and plan intentionally we can overcome the common mistakes that deteriorate our confidence and leave us blindly hoping we become better year after year.
Prompts
What is one thing that you absolutely loved doing this year that you need to do more of next year?
What is the most important area of your life in the upcoming year? Why?
How will you know if you are on track to accomplish your goals for the year in March?
Deep Dive
Multi-Scale Planning, Cal Newport
A simple and effective planning system to map long-term goals to weekly and daily schedules.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next Sunday.
Kevin