New Year's Resolutions: Mid-Year Update

I bet you didn't expect a blog on this topic in the middle of August! How've your New Year's resolutions been going? Did they last? Are you half way to reaching your goals? If you're like a majority of Americans, including myself, not only have you forgotten about your New Year's resolutions by this point in time, you may have given up on them all together. After much research, I've found that New Year's resolutions don't always work out the way that many individuals anticipate. However, this blog is not meant to bring you down or make you feel depressed about your resolutions, it's quite the opposite. It's to give you a sense of peace and hope about the whole thing. Whether or not you set New Year's Resolutions or how you've been doing so far, today is a new day! Based on my research here are my tips to help set yourself up for success.

1. Develop a Personal Mission Statement

As I mentioned in my New Year's Resolutions blog, I believe that you should establish a personal mission statement before you even start setting any goals, so if you haven't done written one, do so now! This statement should be about you, your values and true vision for your life. Ask yourself: what do you see as your purpose in life; what are you most passionate about, and what are your values. It's okay if this takes time to write or if it changes as time goes on. So take a moment or two to first work on your personal mission statement.

2. Set Goals at Any Point in Time

Goals can be set at any point in time throughout the year and do not always have to be set for the New Year. If you set resolutions in January and you still have them saved somewhere...great! Take a look at them and reevaluate those resolutions to see if they fall within your personal mission statement. If you didn't set resolutions in January that is great as well. We are working on right now. One way to get back on track is to take some time today to write down your goals regardless of what was or wasn't completed in the past. According to experts, the very act of making resolutions does improve your odds of success but see what works best for you and be open-minded.

3. Create a Plan

Now that you have your personal mission statement and your goals ready. Break down your goals to small feasible tasks that can be accomplished daily, weekly, and monthly. Also, double check your goals to make sure that you have set S.M.A.R.T goals. Click here to learn more. Again we are not looking at what was or wasn't completed earlier this year. We are working on right now, so your goals are broken down into tasks that you can accomplish moving forward.

4. Follow Through

Renowned personal development coach and trainer, Brian Tracy, relates this to the law of momentum in which he states that "… a body in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force." So don't let an outside force rob you of your momentum or keep you from reaching your goals. Once you are on a roll, just keep on going.

5. Don't Stop

Do SOMETHING every day. From personal experience, it's harder to get moving again after you've stopped than if you would've simply remained in motion. Focus on the little changes daily to help you accomplish your goal. For example, if one of your goals is to lose weight and you can't make it to the gym because you are limited on time from a crazy day at work; just throw on your gym clothes and go for a walk. Or if one of your goals is to start saving more money try saving a couple dollars per day or week. Just be sure to stay consistent and you will be surprised what you can accomplish with little victories every day … week … month.

Keep in mind, no one is perfect so try not to be too harsh on yourself or compare yourself to others. If you fall off the horse just get back up, get balanced and keep going!