As we get ready to say goodbye to another year, we are in the process of getting our journals and to do list notepads with our resolutions for 2022.
This has been an unpredictable year as any other year, but coupled with the pandemic and the millions of deaths worldwide, everyone is happy to be alive and make it to the end of 2021. I am sure everyone knows at least one person who didn’t make it to be shouting happy new year!
It is sobering but also gives weight to the importance of making this life count.
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Resolutions are good and helps chart us in the direction we wish to go, which for a goal directed person like myself is awesome.
Research conducted by Strava using over 800 million user-logged activities in 2019 predicts the day most people are likely to give up on their New Year’s Resolution is January 19. Strava calls it “Quitter’s Day”.
It isn’t that we are not well-intentioned individuals who don’t want to realize these goals. Ask anyone stating their resolutions, they really are serious about pursuing it, yet somehow along the way it falls away bit by bit, till in some cases it is forgotten if not all together, it becomes a faint distant memory, sometimes impossible to recall.
If not sure check out for yourself.
What were some of the resolutions you made for 2021?
If you can’t remember any or most don’t feel bad, it’s not that you are not a goal-oriented person, but there are several reasons resolutions don’t last and if you want 2022 to be different with your resolutions read on.
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So, we made the resolutions, whether it is to exercise, eat healthier, get a different job or whatever it might be, and we are determined to see it through. So, what happens that leads to these resolutions falling by the wayside.
We expected it to go smoothly — those goals you set, you thought you would just get up and go do it and everything will line up, after all the universe knows that you really want to do it.
Then there are the life challenges that pops up — a sick relative, a project at work that takes more time than expected, and by the time you know it, the goal is forgotten. Because well believe it or not, we thought it would go smoothly.
Internally we are all perfectionist and as soon as we see ourselves slipping from the dedicated daily time, we feel that too much time has passed and so rather than accepting that there are challenges on the part to it and getting back to it, we give up, because we believe too much time has passed.
Anything worth doing takes grit and determination, pursuing a resolution without preparing for the challenges sets us up for not persisting when the challenges come.
In considering resolutions think about the challenges that can come and even if there are challenges that you didn’t even imagine appear, determine not to quit, even if you start and stop, keep going.
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It’s harder than expected — so we didn’t quit, but pursuing a goal is hard work! We are programmed as humans to find the easy way in most things and when that doesn’t happen, we feel to give up, as we are generally well lazy — sorry — — it is what it is.
It’s hard to pursue something without immediate gratification and reward, it’s downright hard …so we give up… Therefore, know your why for pursuing a goal, because there isn’t any instant reward, even if it is a business you started, it will be some time before you can see the rewards of the work — sometimes even longer than you can imagine in your mind!
Seeking others approval for our goals — sometimes the dreams we have can scare us and they should, but when we think it is so unbelievable to achieve, we start talking and sharing and then we may be discouraged from pursuing it and we follow the crowd instead of having the faith to step out into what we are called to do that will set us apart from the pack. So, get your resolution and don’t share with anyone except someone you know for sure will support and hold you accountable to achieve.
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Time — this is one that we often say, there seems to be so much to do daily it feels impossible to achieve all in the given hours of the day. We can get back many things, but not time.
So how can you stick with your resolutions with a finite amount of time each day?
Be realistic about your daily schedule, pick a day or time that will allow you to be able to focus on whatever it is, it may be early in the morning before the rest of your family is up or in the night after everyone goes to sleep.
Don’t try to carve out a large amount of time initially. Try to develop it as a habit by setting aside a short space of time consistently and as you grow in the habit, you will desire to put aside even more time. Better ten minutes a day even than no time daily!!
Self-doubt — we listen to the internal voices that says we can’t. It’s already hard and when we keep hearing from our own inner self that what we want to do, we believe it is impossible then self doubt begins to creep in and eventually reside there in the mind.
All around there are people who refused to persist when self-doubt crept in, and if we have many of them in our circle around us, we will just give up, because it’s well… easy to do so.
To keep going motivate you…listen to positive and affirming messages, put up positive messages around you and keep quietly but diligently working.
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As the year comes to an end, and we express gratitude, may 2022 see the realization of all our resolutions as we take these active steps to not just talk it, but make it happen!!
Happy new year medium family, may 2022 lead us further into fulfilling our purpose and realizing even more of our potential.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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