Resolve to set goals this year

Don’t make New Year’s resolutions. You won’t keep them. I’ve tried for years and have almost never taken one through a whole year. Most people start theirs on Jan. 1 and abandon them well before the Super Bowl. Instead of making New Year’s resolutions, make real, personal goals. Some really good advice on goals passed to me by Dave Ramsey includes these five simple steps: First, put your goals in writing. Don’t scribble them out on a cocktail napkin. Write them someplace more permanent. Type them in a Word document that you can save on your computer and also print a copy to display somewhere where you will see them every day. If one of your goals is weight loss, post it on your refrigerator door. Second, make your goals specific. If you want to lose weight, determine a specific amount. Don’t just say I want to lose a few pounds. If you want to lose 20 pounds, make that your goal. Map out how much you need to lose each week to reach that goal, set an exercise regimen and chart your eating habits. If you want to read more, determine how many books or how many hours a week you will spend doing that. Write out what you want to read and why. Third, make your goals time sensitive. A goal without a deadline is just an unfulfilled dream. If you want to lose those 20 pounds before summer, set Memorial Day as your deadline. That is one pound a week. If necessary, break a larger goal up into smaller, more manageable steps. Fourth, make your goals measurable. How will you know that you’ve reached your goal unless you have some way of measuring it? If weight loss is your goal, you can measure that on a scale or in the size of your clothes. Fitness goals can be measured by the amounts and duration of weights lifted or miles run or walked. Reading is measured by the number of books read. Fifth, make your goals personal to you. This is the big “why.” For what reason do you wish to achieve your goals? If it’s to please others, you may have a problem with co-dependency. Your goal may involve service to others, but don’t sacrifice your own satisfaction for the sole purpose of someone else’s happiness. If your goal isn’t personal, you will lack the motivation to achieve it. Without motivation comes failure and a further sinking into whatever you’re trying to get out of. What do you do once you achieve your goal? Celebrate! Don’t get caught up in the “now what funk.” Don’t fall back into old habits. Take some time to enjoy what you have accomplished and then move on. Keep the habits that helped you reach your goal and, if applicable, stretch your goals farther. If necessary, make new and more challenging goals. If you have a book reading goal, try writing a book. If you lost weight, blog about it. If you reached a financial goal, increase it. If your goal was a one-time thing like earning a college degree, embark on a new mission. That mission may include use of your degree or something way out in left field. The key is not to stop. The minute you stop pursuing goals is the day your dreams will die and take you along with them. Zig Ziglar, who is well into his 80s and has short-term memory loss due to a brain injury, still has goals of helping motivate others through books and speaking engagements. He has had to modify his techniques, but the goals are still before him. Getting back to Dave Ramsey, I recently listened to one of his recordings where he urges people and companies to have a BHAG — big, hairy, audacious goal. Not an unachievable pipe dream, but a mind-blowing goal that requires you to stretch way out of your comfort zone to accomplish. Most likely that will be a longer-term goal. It may take some time and several steps to set up. Each step toward your BHAG can be a personal goal. My first goal for 2012 will be to no longer make New Year’s resolutions. My next goal will be to set my goals for the year following these proven steps.