Since the days of the Babylonians, people have entered each new
year with a renewed sense of vigor, a promise to themselves to be
better than the year before.
And, since the days of the Babylonians, people have failed to
meet even their most basic goals for the new year, whether it be to
lose weight, quit smoking or simply spend more time with
family.
Since the days of the Babylonians, people have entered each new year with a renewed sense of vigor, a promise to themselves to be better than the year before.
And, since the days of the Babylonians, people have failed to meet even their most basic goals for the new year, whether it be to lose weight, quit smoking or simply spend more time with family.
However, there’s one thing the Babylonians didn’t have that we do. The Internet. And, believe it or not, that can be a big tool in turning those goals we simply forgot about or quit into goals accomplished.
There are countless Web sites available that focus on tips to help kick almost any nasty habit, but one site that has garnered much national attention is mygoals.com.
According to the Web site, which dedicated to setting, managing, and reaching personal and professional goals, people’s goals for 2004 are shying away from professional goals and are seeping more into personal ones for next year. The Web site claims that there is a 9 percent drop in setting professional goals, which were the most popular last year at 27 percent.
The number one goal this year falls in the health and fitness category at 22 percent of people’s New Year’s resolutions, but that number also declined from last year.
Instead, there has been a leap in people working to better their family and personal relationships and improve time management and personal finances.
The site’s annual predictions of New Year’s resolutions are based on the ordinary goal-setting activity of myGoals.com users during the third quarter of the current calendar year. Five hundred anonymized goals, set by the site’s users, were selected at random and tabulated to generate the trends outlined above. While the study is not scientific, the site’s users generally represent the average college-educated, adult, U.S. Web-surfing population, according to the Web site.
And while the site does outline trends in what people’s resolutions are, its main focus is on helping individuals reach their goals.
Individuals who join the site (which costs $5.95 a month) can set as many goals as they like, creating custom Goalplans from scratch or selecting from a library of pre-made Goalplans that contain expert advice for accomplishing the goal. The site sends e-mail reminders to keep the individual on track until the goal is accomplished.
And, according to the Web site, there are right and wrong ways to make a New Year’s resolution. Here are a few expert tips to make sure a resolution turns into a success story:
1. Create a plan
Setting a goal without formulating a plan is merely wishful thinking. In order for your resolution to have resolve, (as the word “resolution” implies), it must translate into clear steps that can be put into action. A good plan will tell you A) What to do next and B) What are all of the steps required to complete the goal.
2. Create your plan immediately
If you’re like most people, then you’ll have a limited window of opportunity during the first few days of January to harness your motivation. After that, most people forget their resolutions completely.
It is imperative that you begin creating your plan immediately.
3. Write down your resolution and plan
myGoals.com exists to help you formulate a plan, which we then help you stick to. But even if you don’t use myGoals.com, commit your resolution and plan to writing someplace, such as a notebook or journal.
4. Think “year round,” not just New Year’s
Nothing big gets accomplished in one day. Resolutions are set in one day, but accomplished with a hundred tiny steps that happen throughout the year. New Year’s resolutions should be nothing more than a starting point. You must develop a ritual or habit for revisiting your plan. myGoals.com helps you stick to your plan by providing email reminders that arrive when it’s time to work on a given task.
5. Remain flexible
Expect that your plan can and will change. Life has a funny way of throwing unexpected things at us, and flexibility is required to complete anything but the simplest goal. Sometimes the goal itself will even change. Most of all, recognize partial successes at every step along the way. Just as a resolution isn’t accomplished the day it’s stated, neither is it accomplished the day you reach your goal. Rather, it’s accomplished in many small increments along the way.
