If you're into making New Year's resolutions, the beginning of February is, historically-speaking, a time to pat yourself on the back or to sound the death knell on your dreams of a life transformed.
According to two really interesting blog posts (one is health related; one comes from the Harvard Business Review) I read today, you might want to hold off on declaring those resolutions dead if you're truly interested in transformation.
MizFit suggests that we take our Big Hairy Audacious Goals for the year and break them down into bite-size pieces. She points out that doing that makes them seem less scary and, thus, more attainable. She also lays out an example of how to do it.
The Harvard Business Review piece suggests that we think about our Big Hairy Audacious Goals more specifically. How exactly will we change that thing that needs changing and how will we know when our work is done? The piece also suggests that we use a technique called mental contrasting which, essentially, makes us all warm and fuzzy (what cool things can we expect as a result of reaching our goals?) while making us think realistically about what it will take for us to achieve our goals.
The New Year is a good time for making resolutions, but I know that not everybody does it that way. I feel like the concepts in these two pieces are good no matter when you decide to pursue a change in your life.
The two take-away points for me are this:
1. Just because you didn't make huge strides on your resolutions doesn't mean you can't regroup and start over. There's nothing wrong with adjusting your plans after figuring out why you haven't been able to make progress on your goals.
2. Good goals are concrete and measurable and have mini-milestones along the way. Knowing the ways in which you wish your life were different is a good starting point for change. As un-glamorous as it seems, building in markers for assessment makes it easier to figure out when you've met the goal and whether you're moving closer to it. Celebrating mini-milestones is one thing I need to be better about, especially when a goal will take a long time to achieve.
What about you? Are you doing well on keeping your New Year's resolutions? Got any tips?
1 comment:
Si está en lo que las resoluciones de año nuevo, es el comienzo de febrero, Históricamente hablando, una vez a pat usted mismo en la parte posterior o a la muerte de sonido resignar sus sueños de una vida transformada
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