Remember your New Year's Resolutions...?

I am sorry to have to remind you, but have you given any consideration to your 2011 New Year’s resolutions lately?  Are you making the most out of your money?  Have you lost any weight?  Are you any closer to buying a home?  Have you laid the groundwork to starting your own business?

Like most people, we make these huge plans to make great changes in our lives beginning on January 1, only to find ourselves making the same plans again on the following December 31.  And I’m not just pointing my finger at you – it is pointed right back myself.  You see, my goal for 2011 was to lose xxx pounds (yes, that was done intentionally!).  I started off in January by signing up for the gym where I work and made sure I spent about five hours a week sweating and lifting and running.  After a while I began to feel a little stronger and felt a little thinner… so much my wife even commented on it!  I was truly feeling as if I would have my health breakthrough this year.

And, alas, here we are a few hours from the beginning of May, and I have fallen off the wagon.  I went from going to the gym three times a week to making excuses to why I cannot go.  I might have gained a pound or two since the turn of the New Year, and I am feeling pretty bad about it.  But through the consultation of a few good friends and mentors, along with reading articles about motivation and goal setting, I have created a list of “must dos” that will help us get back on track with those all-important New Year’s resolutions.

Hakuna Matata

Now, I know Timon and Pumbaa said that it literally means “no worries”, but they also described it as putting your past behind you.  So you haven’t made much progress thus far to reach your goals this year?  Hakuna matata!  Don’t look at it as four months have already passed without doing anything, rather than as having eight months ahead of us to make incredible growth towards realizing your goal.  Therefore, recommit yourself at this moment to give everything you have from this point forward to seeing your ambitions become your accomplishments.

Share with others your goals

I have to give credit for this one to my Zeta Phi Beta soror Dr. Jylla Moore Tearte, as she put me on to this one.  At a Zeta event in where she made a presentation, she talked about telling the world what your goals and aspirations are.  Sharing this information with loved ones, co-workers and, yes, strangers has dual effectiveness.  First, it will give you a group of people to help keep you accountable.  To use myself as an example, if I told the my co-workers that I was trying to lose, lets say, 50 pounds, they might give me a funny stare or even question me if they found me eating Chick-Fil-A at my desk during lunch!  Secondly, by speaking our goals to others, you will be surprised to what resources someone may be able to offer you.  If you tell someone you are looking for a new career opportunity – they may know of someone who is hiring for the perfect job.  Looking to buy a house?  A mortgage broker may hear you.  If you are trying to grow your fledgling business, someone you know may have a connection who is looking for exactly what you are offering.

Tell others your resolution(s)… you may be surprised to see who and what is attracted to you.

Drop the dead weight

I have found that this tends to be the most difficult part of getting back on track to see your resolutions come into fruition.  For this exercise lets define dead weight as anything that we keep around ourselves that prevent us to attaining our goals.  We all tend to keep dead weight around us at all time, and it can range from watching television, to not studying (if graduating is your resolution), or even people who keep you from your desired end result.  We have to make some tough decisions to “trim the fat” and lose the dead weight.  Metaphorically, dropping such weight will help us move faster toward our goal.  And here is the key to this one… once you drop the dead weight you must work very hard to keep it off!

Take measurements as you go

One thing I learned from my time in Corporate America is that “what gets measured, gets done!”  As the Six Sigma Champion for my location, it was my job to constantly take measurements.  And the great thing about taking measurements is that it gives you real-time progress reports on how well you are doing.  For instance, if you are trying to lose weight, step on the scale every other week to measure how well you are doing.  If you are trying to grow your savings account, check it monthly to see your money grow.  Taking measurements can be done using any metric.  One of my favorites is time.  By making a timeline of when you want to accomplish certain goals will assist you in staying on schedule.  Telling yourself that “I need to have my website done by June 1” is proven to be more effective than saying “I will have my website done as soon as possible”.

Aim for the moon

Do you remember when you a kid in middle school and your teachers had those posters with inspirational sayings on their walls?  I remember one in particular, in Mrs. Merriam’s English class that said “Shoot for the moon – and if you don’t get there you’ll fall amongst the stars”.  I am the first to admit that it is very… well… corny in a way.  But please keep this in mind when December 31 comes around.  You may not have hit your target weight loss goal.  You may not have saved as much money as you would like.  You may not have the house that you want to live in.  But I can assure you, that if you can apply a few of these techniques to your daily life, you will at least end up in the stars.  And in the stars is not a bad place to be.