Be a resolution success story

EACH year millions of people write New Year’s resolutions, but just a few actually see them to fruition.

Whether you have resolved to get out of debt, lose weight, fall in love or get a degree, know that for the vast majority of people, the goals are simply not attained year after year.

“For the past seven years my resolution has been to get a better job, get my house, buy a car to put on the road to make some money and do something different with my life,” 39-year-old Shannon Blankett said.

“And every year it’s the same thing. No change. So this year I just decide that I am not making any resolutions and whatever happens this year just happens.”

However, Blankett said she feels trapped in a life that seems to be heading nowhere, a pay-cheque that has not changed in five years, and having to pay rent when she would rather be paying mortgage.

“I am not making any more resolutions but something just has to change,” she added.

But what is the secret of the few who achieve their resolutions and how can you tap into that success?

“For one, keep your goals simple,” clinical psychologist Ashlei McFarlane said.

“Instead of saying ‘I want to lose 30 pounds’, write down, ‘I will replace soda with water’. Or ‘I will go for a 15 minute walk around my housing scheme three days a week’. It’s much easier to achieve a goal that is measurable.”

Here are some other tips:

1. Make it public

“A vision board is a powerful tool that some people use to document and visualise their goals,” McFarlane explained. “Even the Bible in Habakkuk 2 tells us to write down our dreams on a tablet!”

McFarlane said if your goal is to be a homeowner, you can make it more realistic by placing clippings from magazines and newspapers of your dream home, furnishings, and also a picture of yourself smiling as you would be on the day you walk into your own home on a wall or on a board in your home.

If your goal is to get out of debt then you should tell your friends. They can remind you of your goal to save and pay off bills when you are tempted to buy tickets to the summer beach parties that “everyone” is going to.

“Place positive, encouraging affirmations all over your home,” McFarlane said. “Let them be visible from the moment you wake up until you retire to bed.

2. Believe in your goal

If your dream is to get over a heartbreak and find love, you have to believe that you are worthy of love in spite of what you may have gone through with your last partner.

“Do things that make you feel good about yourself,” the psychologist noted. “Get a manicure, get your hair done in a new style, work out. These are all things you can do with minimal effort that deliver maximum impact in terms of helping you to feel great about yourself. When we look good, we feel good. Go out on the town. Tell all your friends you are single and go on lots of dates.”

3. Make your list realistic

“Finally, keep your list short,” McFarlane encouraged. “It’s very difficult to manage more than three goals at a time. So set three measurable goals and tell people you trust so they can keep you on track and encourage you as you journey towards no longer being a victim of circumstance.

Motivational speaker and author, Ava Brown, who began her life in St Elizabeth as a country girl and who is now known by many in the United Kingdom as a corporate queen, said negotiating and getting a life coach can help in changing lives.

“I went over 200 successful people’s profiles to find why some people become millionaires in 2014, why some didn’t do anything, and why someone, despite how hard they tried, still didn’t get ahead. I spent 21 hours doing this and I think I cracked the code,” Brown noted.

1. Negotiating

“Great deals and great opportunities don’t come to you. You have to make them great deals. I guarantee that those of you who think you are good negotiators are not, and those of you who know you aren’t need to do something about it now,” she said.

2. Coaching

“Either you have one and you are not utilising him or her correctly or you don’t have one, can’t afford one, or don’t think you need one. I have four. And I intend to call them about 2015 because I know I can be better,” she said.