Everyone Is Doing It
The new year is a great time to work harder on relationships, careers or personal growth areas. The truth is, while we don’t need a pre-determined time to make the moves we want to make, it can be easier to start something, and even stay with something for longer if you participate with others. And when better to participate with others than New Year’s Eve? But studies show, however, that only about 9% of Americans keep their resolutions while 23% quit by the first week and 43% quit at the end of January.
Why So Many Fall Flat
While there are other reasons people may fail, here are four core reasons people may fall short on their resolutions:
- Goals should start at a time of change or need for change. So many resolutions are set because of tradition. If there’s not a need or a value attached to the goal you want to achieve, then it’ll drastically reduce the chances of success.
- Expect Obstacles. Keep it real. No matter your goal, you’ll come across obstacles. Expecting this doesn’t mean you have to be ready for everything that comes your way. It just means you are aware that your goal isn’t a straight line. This alone is enough to improve your chances of achieving it.
- Set goals into challenging, measurable chunks. Completing goals, even the small ones on your way to the larger one, creates positivity. You can celebrate these wins and see your progress as you track your course ever closer from where you were to where you are going.
- Accountability. Here are a few ways you can set accountability for yourself and your goals: tell a friend, join an accountability group, track your progress, even hire a coach.
The Top 9%
These 9% are more likely to stay with their resolutions whether they make them for the New Year or not. They don’t have to be persuaded by tradition or other people to make the kinds of changes in their lives they want to make. It could be a Spring, a July 21st or even a rainy day resolution. When the realization of the need occurs, the action begins. It comes back to the kind of person we want to be and whether we have the perseverance and responsibility to follow through with the goals we’ve set. It’s something that comes from inside of us. Not a date on a calendar.
Nothing Worthwhile…
There’s a direct correlation between the difficulty to achieve a goal and the reward received when completed. That is why “Nothing worthwhile comes easy” rings true. The reward is longer lasting and creates character only if it’s something that is earned. And it’s through this work that creates a sustainable path forward for growth. Whether it’s personal or business related, elevating the “process” is, while less than comfortable, creates the success, meaning and fulfillment we most try to fill with shopping, food or scrolling. The top 9% understand the prize is in the process. Certainly Jeffrey “Jack” Gordon does, Managing Partner of MANEY | GORDON Trial Lawyers relishes in the process. “It’s in the process we find the reward,” he says. “It’s counterintuitive to enjoy the challenge and focus not on the result, but it’s true none the less. The more we practice this, the more it will be reinforced.” This is one of the reasons he’s able to continually create positive impacts and earn the types of honors and credentials that keep him amongst the top echelon of lawyers to this day.
How This Bleeds Into Business
Businesses can also make New Year Resolutions, right? I mean, why not? Some could argue it’s easier for a business to fulfill these goals because those pushing these goals into fruition are getting paid. There’s a “high-valued” reward for achieving these results in a way we can’t quite receive on our own for eating broccoli over ice cream. Also, the types of people running these business are more closely aligned with the top 9% already who don’t need a date to start the kind of change they want to see, hence them being business owners. They’ve set values and precedence of hard work, perseverance and the kind of quality necessary to earn the trust and dollars of clients or consumers. But that doesn’t always mean their resolutions are the best for those they touch.
Resolutions Aren’t Made Equal
While all companies need profit in order to maintain its business structure, some make this a priority over values. When superficial values like money and size matter more than those with substance like love, honor, justice or truth, shallow companies are the result. Now, nobody is perfect, and certainly no company is either as they are run by people, but there are some businesses that stand for things that help us lead safer and more quality lives than others. And with no shortage of options out there in a wonderfully full market from clothes and cars to land surveyors and law firms, these companies carry more than the products they produce. How they produce them and what they show means more now than it has in history. We have a choice with whom to transact. If we take the time to work with companies that align more closely with our values, they’ll have to change what they value in order to keep/earn our business.
Resolving the New Year’s Resolution Problem
There are plenty of percentage points available to add to the 9% mark. And there are plenty of businesses in need of updating their values and messaging that reflects their practices. The more we support those business that align more with our values, the more we’ll surround ourselves with the kinds of people, companies, values we want or see in our lives. We’ll reinforce those qualities and be less influenced by a calendar date to make the changes in our lives we want whether a career shift, getting in shape, committing to a family, etc.
The more we surround ourselves with people who overcome adversity, the more familiar we will be with obstacles and that they will always exist. “Failure” is an important part of the process because it’s a learning opportunity. At least, that’s what the top 9% view it as. Otherwise, that stress of failure as the end would be too negative to be able to sustain for the long-term goals. There’s a different view available to us of these valleys, problems, obstacles that come in the way of our goals. It’s that perspective we can learn to adopt more of in order to find more success in our resolutions.
Or we can simply be ok with the fact we don’t want to join the 9%ers and live a happy life that way too. As long as achieving that goal doesn’t require us to first become one of the 9%ers in order to achieve it…
