Words from Christine…
We’ve been talking about five ways to make New Year’s resolutions stick:
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Be convinced it will make your life better.
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Break it into very small goals, and clearly state each goal.
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Be accountable to yourself and at least one other person.
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Be your own cheerleader, and have at least one other cheerleader.
- Be able to adjust your expectations when necessary.
In our previous post, we covered the first point. In this post, I’d like to talk about the second point:
*Break it into very small goals, and clearly state each goal.*
When you make small goals, it takes the overwhelm out of resolution-keeping.
For example, if your resolution was to “start actively dating”, with the hope of “meeting someone to do things with” – you could start making small goals by asking yourself a series of questions. For example:
(1) What would you like to do with this someone?
- Go to the movies?
- Have good conversations over dinner?
- Play cards and board games?
- Go walking?
(2) What qualities would you like this someone to have? For example:
- Enjoy the same movies I do – musicals, action, happy endings.
- They ask me questions and listen to my answers. They know about things I don’t know, and are interested in learning about the things I know.
- Learn new games.
- Power walking vs. strolling through parks.
(3) How can you find places to meet people who share your activities? For example:
- Meetup.com. This is a wonderful source of activities. Just join and start marking the things you enjoy within your zip code and voila you will have a list of more things than you could ever do.
- Google to search for activities in your area.
- Ask friends and people at work.
- Look through the calendar of events at your place of worship.
Armed with the answers from a list like this, you’re now equipped to pick an activity to try.