The other day someone asked me about my goals for the New Year to which I replied “to run the Chicago Marathon in October and BQ” but then remembered my recent setback that has put me on the sidelines for the unforeseeable future. So… I am forcing myself to step outside my comfort zone and try new things (gasp!)
Anyways, I thought about the origins of New Year’s Resolutions and found the following from the always reliable source Wikipedia!
Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts.
The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.
At watch night services, many Christians prepare for the year ahead by praying and making these resolutions.
This tradition has many other religious parallels. During Judaism's New Year, Rosh Hashanah, through the High Holidays and culminating in Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), one is to reflect upon one's wrongdoings over the year and both seek and offer forgiveness. People can act similarly during the Christian liturgical season of Lent, although the motive behind this holiday is more of sacrifice than of responsibility. In fact, the practice of New Year's resolutions came, in part, from the Lenten sacrifices. The concept, regardless of creed, is to reflect upon self-improvement annually.
At the end of the Great Depression, about a quarter of American adults formed New Year's resolutions. At the start of the 21st century, about 40% did
I also found out that the most common resolutions are donating to the poor more often, becoming more assertive, or to become more environmentally responsible. Which are all very admirable! However, our success rates appear to not be so great. A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, despite the fact that 52% of the study's participants were confident of success at the beginning. Common reasons for failing include 35 percent setting unrealistic goals, 33 percent didn’t keep track of their progress and 23 percent FORGOT! About one in 10 said they made too many resolutions.
So what can we do to help increase our chances of achieving our goals?!? Well, some believe in the power of writing down our goals, actually taking the time to write them down. Only about 2 percent of Americans have written goals and of those less than 1 percent revisit their goals on a regular basis. Research shows that people that take the time to write down and revisit their goals will achieve significantly more than those who don’t write them down. Researchers also point out that people make consistent progress toward meaningful goals are happier.
Here are a few simple steps towards creating goals to set you on the path of success!
Create a vision
Dream Big! This is the fun part, if you don’t know what you want, you don’t know what you need to achieve it. Take fifteen minutes and document your vision. Take note of the details. What does your day look like? Where are you living? Try to incorporate all senses in your vision to make it most effective. What do you see, hear, smell, taste and feel throughout this ideal day?
Make it Measurable
Now take your vision and break it down into concrete, realistic goals. Choose an achievable timeframe and a list of details that help you recognize when you are making progress.
Set Benchmarks
Goals are just a bunch of small achievements. Break your goals into small steps and assign realistic time each. Continue to break big steps into smaller and smaller steps until goals seem more manageable. Benchmarks are a great way to keep you on track.
Celebrate your Success
This is the most important part of goal-setting. How you reward yourself when hitting your benchmarks along the way? How will you celebrate once you have reached your goal? Why we want something can help motivate and keep us on the right path and working toward our goal, even when things don’t go as planned.
Are you making any New Year’s Resolutions for 2016?