Last year I set three New Year’s resolutions.
- Exercise more regularly and get to XXX lbs.
- Give more of my time and treasure to a worthy cause.
- Write more, especially with regards to my novel.
I exceeded the first, achieved the second and did an ok job on the third. I didn’t write much toward my novel, but I did write more regularly in my journal and on this blog. Overall, I’d say I was 80% effective in achieving my goals. This is better than I’ve ever done with regards to sticking to my resolutions and there is one simple reason why.
I had a room full of people who knew about my goals and were willing to support and encourage me along the way. These accountabilibuddies were instrumental to my success.
On Christmas Day last year, my Aunt distributed cute decorative boxes to every member of my family, each one covered in decor representative of our personalities and favorite things. Mark’s was decorated in baseballs and Cubs stickers. Mine was covered in baking tools and sweet treats.
We all wrote down three goals, shared them with the group and then put them in our individual boxes. Then the boxes went back into the big box and were stored away for the entire year in my Aunt’s closet.
Throughout the year as I was working toward my goals, I received support from various members of my family that empowered me to keep going. For example, my husband would exercise with me by walking around our neighborhood or my Mom and sister would leave nice comments on my blog which encouraged me to keep posting, despite my suspicion they were my only two readers.
This year, my three resolutions are:
- To make meal plans at least 3 weeks of every month rather than going to the grocery store last minute for dinner. This will help us use our coupons more effectively, too.
- To help a new nonprofit I’m working with raise enough money to obtain and maintain a facility.
- To exercise at least three days a week, especially when I don’t feel like it. I’m the queen of excuses and reasons why today isn’t a good day for exercise.
So now, in addition to my family, you can feel free to help me stay accountable to these 2012 goals.
My advice to anyone who struggles with sticking to their resolutions is to write them down and tell a bunch of people who will support you in your efforts. What are your resolutions? How do you make sure they don’t fizzle out by January 15th?
That’s not necessarily true. There is a fine line when announcing your goals that you have to be very careful with to make sure you don’t psychologically shoot yourself in the foot. You may find this an interesting read: http://sivers.org/zipit
Basically, there is a psychological difference between “I’m going to do X” and “I will accomplish X by Y date, and hound me about it”
Interesting to learn that behavior can demotivate the goal announcer!
I see confused people on Facebook advertising goals (among other things) to project an image. They get caught up in worrying about how their life appears to others than how it _actually_ is.
If sharing goals isn’t backed up by the desire/concrete plan to achieve them, there is little sense in setting goals at all. I’m all about putting together project plans to accomplish goals! It works for work, why not personal goals, too?
My resolutions:
1) Give more of my time and treasure to charity
2) Become a Dad (God willing) 😀
3) Get in better shape (exercise more, eat healthier).
These aren’t easy to do as everyone knows, but the ‘accountabilibuddy’ system I would bet has a much higher success rate, as it has helped me achieve most of my tough goals in the past!
I’m lucky to be your accountabilibuddy. 🙂 Thanks for always being so supportive!
[…] talked before about my family’s goal box tradition. This year I achieved 1 of the 3 goals I set for 2016. Not great. It seemed like everyone in the […]