Successful New Year’s Resolutions

As the New Year approaches, I find myself re-evaluating things in my life to honestly assess what’s working and what could stand to be improved upon. I’m thinking about my New Year’s resolutions.

I know I’m not the only one… New Year’s resolutions are something that many people partake in every year.

The question is… how committed are you to actually achieving the things you say you want in your life? Whether it’s your New Year’s resolutions or anything else in your life, the truth is that saying you want something and being committed to having it are 2 totally different things.

A lot of people say they want to lose weight. Losing weight is actually one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions every year. However, when it comes to actually achieving this goal, it’s often one of the first things people give up on (usually in the first couple of weeks) after making this New Year’s resoultion each year.

You see, as I mentioned earlier, saying you want to lose weight and being committed to losing weight are not one in the same. They are actually 2 completely different conversations that will, in turn, produce 2 completely different results.

Here’s another example. Have you every personally sponsored someone into your primary business who claims that they want to make $5000 per month as soon as possible? You may have even gone so far as to ask them what that money will provide for them in their life (more time with their family, to be able to quit their job, etc). And, upon having this conversation with them, it may be very apparent that they REALLY want this outcome. That’s a good start…

But, when it comes to New Year’s resloutions or any other goal (like the one just mentioned in this example), there has to be more skin in the game then simply wanting something.

There needs to be a high level of commitment involved, or the desired goal will simply never be reached.

Last year at this time, I wrote and article about S.M.A.R.T. goals. This is one really great way to create goals in a way that will set you up for success.

Another thing that I have found to be a really strong foundation for me every time I commit to achieving another level of success (in any area of my life) is accountability. Setting up a really strong accountability system can often times be the factor that will make or break your success with your New Year’s resolutions or any other goal that you are wanting to accomplish in your life.

Here are 3 steps you can take to help you achieve your New Year’s Resolutions and Goals:

1) You can simply be accountable to yourself. Set a structure in place to help you do this, such as keeping a journal about what you accomplished each day in regard to your goal or your New Year’s resolutions. Knowing that we have to log it on a daily basis will sometimes be just what is needed to have us stay on track.

2) If you’re really ready to step up your game (and to actually ACCOMPLISH your NewYear’s resolutions this year), I would highly recommend setting up an accountability structure with someone other than yourself. Find someone that you can hold yourself accountable to (they are not responsible for holding you accountable, you will simply hold yourself accountable to them). If it’s a business goal, this could be your upline. If it’s a weightloss goal it could be a personal trainer, a friend, or even your spouse. In any case, I would recommend putting a solid structure in place that will ensure your success.

3) Put some risks and/or rewards in place for yourself to help you achieve your goal or New Year’s resolutions,  and to help you celebrate once the goal or New Year’s resolution is achieved. The level of risk or reward is up to you, but the more scary (risk) or inspiring (reward) it is, the more it will motivate you on a daily basis.

Let me give you an example. A couple of years ago, I had a big goal in place as I was striving for a rank advancement in my company. I asked my upline to hold me accountable, and I put a reward in place for myself that was extremely inspiring to me (I was going to treat my husband at the time and myself to a weekend at Gold Lake Resort, one of my favorite places on earth, for a romantic getaway in a rustic cabin on a lake surrounded by lots of beautiful hot springs).

I also put a risk in place, and since I was COMPLETELY COMMITTED to hitting my goal, I decided to play big. I told my upline that I was committed to setting up a minimum of 3 new appointments each day to share my business opportunity with new prospects. I set up a time to check in with him each day to let him know whether or not I did what I said I was going to do that day. And (here’s the risk), I told him that on any day that I did not accomplish my daily goal, I would pay him $50.

Me at Gold Lake

Here’s what happened: I ended up doing whatever it took to set up 3 appointments… sometimes I would end up calling phone #’s on the sides of landscaping trucks or whatever I had to do to make it happen. If it was getting late and I hadn’t pulled it off, I would work the time zones and start contacting people in Hawaii. I just did whatever it took.

As a result, I NEVER had to pay my upline $50, and I ended up hitting my goal. To celebrate, another one of my upline leaders offered to pay the way for 8 of us (4 couples) to go to Gold Lake Resort. It was one of the most memorable weekends in my life, a lot of which had to do with the sheer pride I experienced as a result of having achieved my goal.

So, whether it’s with your New Year’s resolutions, or any other goals that you’re setting throughout the year, whether you actually accomplish it will pretty much always come down to your level of commitment. I can tell you this… I WANTED that rank advancement for a long time, but it wasn’t until I became completely COMMITTED to it that I was able to actually achieve it.

I have some other awesome techniques to help you achieve your goals and New Year’s resolutions as well, but I don’t want to overwhelm you today, so I’ll save them for the next post.

So definitely stay tuned… because one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to help YOU have the most prosperous 2012 ever.

And if you’re ready to be bold, please share your New Year’s resolutions in the comments below.

Expect Abundance,