Realizing Goals and New Year's Resolutions

What's Your New Year's Resolution?

Every January 1st millions of people make a lighthearted decision to somehow change their life for the better. You may decide to loose weight or to spend more quality time with your family. Whatever it is, for most of us, by January 15th we have lost our momentum and our resolution becomes nothing more than a wish.

Keeping up with a New Year's Resolution requires more than desire. It takes a prepared mindset that allows you to stay focused and committed to the daily behaviors required to make a permanent change. The desire to change is a good step, but to actually make that change much more is needed.

Here are the necessary requirements to making your resolutions a reality.

1. Be specific. Make your goal something tangible. Saying that you are going to do better at work is too general, there isn't anything tangible to work toward.

2. Break your goal down into measurable steps that can be accomplished along the way so that you can realize the perks that come with achievement every day.

3. Give yourself a deadline. This will help to keep you on task and will prevent you from expecting to make it happen too quickly or to put it off indefinitely.

4. Decide how determined you are to make your goal a reality. Ask yourself if you are willing to do all that it takes for as long as it takes - even when you are tempted to loose focus. Are you doing this for the right reasons? Goals to change your life for someone else rarely work.

5. Be accountable to someone else. Goals desired in secrecy are too easily left on the wayside when the going gets tough. Enlist a partner with whom you can share your progress and struggles.

6. Make your resolution simple. Make it something that is doable, something that you know in your very core that you will achieve. Otherwise you fall prey to feelings of failure; and that is no way to start off your new year.