How to Create New Year’s Resolutions that Work

2013 is just around the corner. It’s that exciting time of year again. To reflect over 2012 and plan for the new year. In hindsight, how was your 2012? Did you take charge and achieve all goals you’ve set for this year? If you are like most people, let me be honest – you’ve probably failed . In fact, neuroscience shows that 88% of New Year’s Resolutions fail. The reason for such failure stems from multiple factors but one of them being the sheer disconnect with the short-term and long-term. That is, the yearly goals we set in the beginning of the year cannot stand alone. It needs to be integrated into something bigger – your life-long goal.

BIG PICTURE – MISSION, VISION, CORE VALUES

Now, before you start writing your “to-do lists” for 2013, let me offer one suggestion. Take a step back in your life with a 30,000 ft perspective of life. Think about three things. Your mission, vision, and core values. This may take a while to articulate since this requires a concerted effort for self-awareness, but without gaining an acute understanding of these three key elements, creating your New Year’s Resolutions may turn out to become a sheer waste of time. (Check out my previous blog posts on ”Hall of Fame of Mission Statements” and “How To Discover Your Mission Statement“)

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My 2012 New Year’s Resolution Report Card

88% of all New Year’s resolutions end in failure, according to a survey of over 3,000 people conducted by psychologist Richard Wiseman. Despite this dismal statistic, I’ve always been a strong believer of New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I’ve taken pride finessing the art of New Year’s resolutions over the past several years. I’ve gone through countless iteration to craft the ‘perfect’ New Year’s resolutions. In all honesty, I was more concerned about the design of awesome-sounding goals rather than consistently sticking to them throughout the year. (Click here to see my 2012 New Year’s Resolutions)

I would score myself a C⁺,if I am completely honest with myself based on how many goals I’ve actually implemented this year. Like many others, I’ve made critical mistakes that precipitated this low score. So, in hindsight, let me share the good and bad from my 2012 New Year’s resolutions. … Continue Reading

2012 New Year’s Resolutions

Around the end of the year, our family has a tradition that we uphold to: year-end family meeting/service. It started when I was in my young adolescence where my dad would initiate a family meeting with mom, sister, and I. He would open up the meeting with a word of prayer and praises. He would then choose a passage from the Scripture and share our thoughts around the message. With this leading service, the main topic of our discussion shifts to how each one of us spent the past 365 days. Usually, we would spend some time to gather our thoughts before this meeting, but nonetheless, we start to talk about key events and accomplishments as well as failures we encountered in life. This discussion led into what we expect to accomplish for the following year. In all of this, we never lose the context of how Jesus Christ is at the centerpiece. When I was younger and lacking maturity, this time with our family wasn’t exciting and simply boring. However, after living apart with my family for over a decade now, I learned how important family has become in every facet of life. I now very much look forward to these type of family events.As I mature every year, I find myself amazed how my perspectives and thought processes changed. Just last year in 2011, as I review my New Year’s Resolutions, it is self-evident of how highly ambitious and focused I was particularly around building my professional career. Many goals were supplementing my goal to become a successful professional. … Continue Reading