New Year Goals - How To Achieve Them
I love the start of a New Year. It feels like a great time to reinvent ourselves and look at our goals for the future. It’s very easy to become cynical about New Year’s resolutions and think of them as things that we won’t continue to do but it doesn’t have to be like this. If we can apply enough discipline to our goals, we can stay on course for the rest of the year. A New Year’s resolution isn’t something that we should think about on January 1st and then forget for an entire year… It’s something that we should regularly engage with.
When we set goals and challenges for 2020, it would be wise for us to check in with these goals every day. This is a simple way for us to ensure that our actions are reflective of the goals we want to achieve. A great way to do this is by journaling (or if you’re like me, excessive list writing on my phone works wonders). Writing down notes on what we’ve done and recording our progress can be very helpful. I write down every single hour that I’ve been studying Japanese and this helps me to keep track of my efforts. I can see my total study time and as this number increases, so does my skill. This is motivating. Every time I add an hour to my list, I feel rewarded and more inspired to continue. This can work with any skill or hobby. Each time you complete a workout, record it. Each time you mediate, record it. Each time you eat badly, record it. If you constantly measure your actions, you will have data that you can use as motivation. This can either be in a positive way - look how many workouts I’ve done this week. Or in a negative way - look how many pizzas I’ve eaten this week. Both of these can be used to motivate us.
By recording how we’re working towards our goals, we can make sure that we’re moving in the right direction. If things aren’t working or are slowing down, we can adjust our sails and try an alternative approach. Being flexible with how we reach our goals is massively important.
It’s all very well checking in with our goals but making sure that we commit to them is another thing entirely! I honestly believe that the main barrier between what we want to achieve and what we actually achieve is discipline. It’s not just from personal experience that I’ve come to this conclusion. There are tons of incredibly successful people that attribute this characteristic as being the number one reason for achieving their goals. Discipline seems to be the solution. So how do we cultivate discipline at the start of 2020?
The best way to cultivate discipline, in my opinion, is to start being disciplined. I know that sounds ridiculously obvious but the more we do something, the better we get at it. If we start pushing ourselves, we learn to adapt. After a certain period of time, this becomes normal. When I first started waking up early, it was a nightmare and I really struggled. With time, this changed and became easier. The more you force yourself to become disciplined, the easier it becomes to remain disciplined. Therefore, if you can commit to your goals for the whole of January, they are more likely to stick for the rest of the year.
If you’re really struggling with your discipline, I’ll give you two great options:
Public accountability works wonders. There’s something about announcing your goals to the world that helps with motivation. Putting it out there is the first step towards making it a reality. So what are you waiting for? Start talking about your goals! For some, this might seem too forward so announcing your goals to a smaller/closer network of friends who can hold you accountable towards them might be a a better place to start.
Reading about discipline and getting inspired is a great way to kick start your goals. Discipline equals freedom by Jocko Willink is an absolute must-read and will certainly help you to feel motivated.
Whatever your goals for 2020 happen to be, I wish you the best of luck in finding the discipline to continuously work towards them.
“Discipline equals freedom”