I am resolute in my resolutions… Maybe.

Resolutions, self made promises, wishes — ‘this will be MY year…’

The end of the year typically brings reflection of the past 12 months, recognition of a new calendar & diary and we are pre-disposed to celebrate our new diaries to then change.

Change our bodies. Change our jobs. Change our habits, our practices and even how we should think.

That sounds drastic but it’s true. The TV, Facebook adverts and youtube all push the ‘New Year, new you!’ message.

And we accept it.

Whole heartedly, without question or compromise. ‘It’s a new year, we must change ourselves to some form of generally accepted norm.’.

The old adage “If it ain’t broke — don’t fix it” comes to mind. We get sucked into this whirlwind of making resolutions based on our thoughts of what we should be rather than what we could be. I did this too and at some point when I broke a resolution, I would give myself a hard time.

The pre-conditioning I have experienced since as early as I can remember has told me (and everyone) that on 1st January, the person that you were on 31st December is not good enough. Therefore change — NOW! Our world of instant gratification demands it and the vulnerable self doubting part of my psyche plays right into it.

We don’t do this with our businesses as much. Typically we have a plan, a schedule even a loose one and we deploy resources and work towards the change. We understand that things kinda evolve in this way and that if we want to evolve them faster, we engineer the environment in which the change can happen quicker.

In your personal resolutions, you might give something that is bad for you. I mean properly bad that will lead to your early demise is definitely worthwhile. Understand this though, stopping something that has a place in your life means there will be consequences.

For your body, it could be withdrawal and then the purging of the rubbish as your body cleanses itself. The body is amazing!

The same goes for your business. If you cut out something that is toxic in your business, like a bad habit/process or a toxic employee, it is only the BEGINNING of the PROCESS of change. I highlight these words to really ram home the point!

You, as the owner may be able to deal with the change, in fact you don’t even see it as a change, but to your people, this is ‘cold turkey’ and it has consequences. Your people may also need to ‘purge the rubbish’ from the body of the workforce. Remember it’s a process.

If you are setting resolutions for yourself or your business this year, I strongly suggest that you give yourself a bit of a break. Rather than set an action, set yourself an outcome instead — you know, like you do with your business. And for your timescales, give yourself the whole year.

We do this in our family, and the question we ask each other is, what do we want to have achieved when we discuss this next year?

E.G — ‘I will start exercising/running’ change it to ‘By this time next year I will have run a half marathon or ten 10k’s’.

‘I will lose weight’ to ‘By this time next year, I will weigh (target weight) and fit in to (target size) clothes.’

‘I will be more active on Linked In’ to ‘By this time next I will have doubled my contacts in my targets clients industry’

‘I will be more present on social media’ to ‘By this time next year, I will have consistently posted on (favourite platform) and have increased my clients by 1/10/100 because of it’

By structuring your resolutions as a thought out and measurable way AND by giving yourself the year — you can allow for the hiccups…

….Like full lockdowns!

Life happens at the most inconvenient of times and usually with zero notice!

So let life happen, have your goals set, allow the process of change to work in your mind and work towards your goal. You are more likely to achieve it — or get very close. Much closer than if you just focused on the activity.

Goal setting and working towards outcomes are key skills in life and business. If you struggle to set meaningful goals and resolutions — I’d love to help.

Whatever your goal, aspiration or resolution — no matter how you approach it — I wish you the best success for 2021.