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Did you make a new year’s resolution?  How has that been working for you?

I just realized that it’s going to be March 1st and I am not sure I have made much progress on my new year’s resolutions.

I am a big fan of goal setting but this tends to be one type of goal that frequently goes unmet.  Here are 3 thoughts on why new year’s resolutions don’t work and 3 ways you can salvage your new year’s goal setting in the months to come.

Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work

1. We Decide Last Minute
2. We Lack Motivation
3. We Don’t Have Support

Many people, myself included, often realize that the end of the year is approaching and we have not decided on a new year’s resolution.  There is social pressure to have one so we tend to review the heavy hitting categories like, money, health, career, love, etc. and choose a resolution that is socially acceptable and easy to insert into conversation at the party or office.

This last minute decision results in an inevitable lack of motivation.  We didn’t really choose the resolution for ourselves, we choose it based on what we thought people would like to hear and what we thought people might reasonably agree with.  Its hard to stick with something without really knowing why we want to do it and being convinced of the needed change.  Many times we view resolutions as “nice to haves” rather than “must do’s”.

Having made the resolution at the last minute and in some ways not really knowing why, we often don’t have people around us rallying for us to make a change.  Long lasting change happens in community.  We need people to support us as we try to change our habits, goals, relationships, etc.  You may not be seeing results in your new year’s resolution because you are trying to make it alone.

How to Salvage Your New Year’s Resolution

1. Create a Short Term Win
2. Recruit a Friend
3. Work Hard. Take Stock. Press On.

Traditional new year’s resolutions have a time-line of 12 months.  This is a really difficult goal setting scenario.  Instead, decide where you want to be in 12 months and write that down.  Now, write down where you need to be 3 months in order to make your 12 month goal a reality. Short terms goals are more easily measured and far more motivating. Its much harder to procrastinate on a 3 month goal than a 12 month goal.

Recruit a friend to join you in achieving your goal.  You need support and accountability.  If you can convince someone to join you in the adventure, you have also (sometimes unknowingly) been able to articulate your own motivation for reaching this goal.  The additional support and accountability will help you persevere when you would much rather curl up on the couch.

Work Hard.  Take stock. Press on.  This might be your mantra this year as you tackle short term goals.  You need to commit to reevaluating your progress and redirecting yourself as needed.  You can learn a lot about yourself from the process of pursing a goal.

Are you converting on your new year’s resolution?  What is your advice to the rest of us who are behind on our goals?  Leave a comment and share your new year’s resolution tips and tricks.

“While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior”

-Henry Link

“That’s the risk you take if you change: that people you’ve been involved with won’t like the new you. But other people who do will come along.”

- Lisa Alther, author

I read this quote in a newsletter that @KevinEikenberry send out called PowerQuotes Plus.  He includes great questions and prompts.

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you”
- Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie (1888 – 1955) developed influential courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills.  I think he was a personal branding and self-development guru in his day.  Apparently, he was also a social media pro.

Dale Carnegie’s advice on how to make friends proves timeless as countless bloggers have written about how to become more LinkedIn, get the most out of Facebook, and grow your twitter following.  Young professionals are also teaching each other about how to network and build credibility.  When I read this quote by Dale Carnegie, I couldn’t help but think that it is a kind of crash course in networking on and off the web.

Dale Carnegie’s strategy was as simple as being genuinely interested in other people.  Is networking really this simple?

Leave a comment and finish this statement to update Dale Carnegie’s advice on how to build your network: Successful Networking is the result of…

How has learning that changed how you live and work?

Generation Y is a generation of fast learners and research predicts that Generation Z even brighter than we are.  However, we often trade the practice of learning new things for the discipline of changing our behavior based on what we learn.

Change is difficult and each generation handles change differently.  I am guilty of preferring to learn new things rather than taking the time to implement the new things I learn in my life to bring about positive change.  Unfortunately, change requires patience, effort, discipline, and all sorts of other things that are more difficult that acting like you are better off just for knowing something new.

So how do we break the habit of learning new things without pushing ourselves to change as result of what we learn?

Leave a comment and link to your tips for implementing change in your personal life.  Leaders talk about change management in the business world all the time.  How does this corporate-speak translate into our individual lives as a part of our personal development?

” Far too many people have no idea of what they can do because all they have been told is what they can’t do. They don’t know what they want because they don’t know what’s available for them.”

- Zig Ziglar

” Far too many people have no idea of what they can do because all they have been told is what they can’t do. They don’t know what they want because they don’t know what’s available for them.”

- Zig Ziglar

The president of www.onecity.org shared his story with people at our church this weekend.  This organization’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty and systems that prevent real life change through a number of initiatives and caring people.

I was impressed with how they married compassion with organizational efficiency. Here is the organization’s values:

• Relationships – Individual lives, as well as generational cycles of poverty, are only changed through relationships.
• Integrated services – We think people in poverty must be cared for holistically, and we believe holistic care comes when services are integrated & literally co-located.
• Volunteer fueled - Backed by an excellent professional staff, people across the city will experience purpose and fulfillment as they change and are changed thus helping people in poverty create a plan for life change, and expanding our ability to help more people.
• Excellence – Our facility, programs and overall care will be first-rate.
• Results – Our main goal is life change (measured by a number of key success criteria), not simply providing services for the sake of providing services.

There are countless heartbreaking statistics detailing the “fate” of the marginalized people in this world and the many inefficient non-profits that exist in our country.  We must find a find to leverage the talents and resources of communities to meet the needs of our communities.  I think OneCity is probably on the right track.

Check out there plans for the future and the different ways you can get involved at www.onecity.org.  I am thinking about getting involved with WhizKids.

Are you involved with an organization that is creating positive change in your community?  Leave a comment and let people know about the organization.   I would love to hear about more organizations that are doing great work in sustainable manner.

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing”

Theodore Roosevelt

Do you agree or disagree?
If you could rewrite the quote, what would say?

“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Do you agree or disagree?
If you could rewrite the quote, what would say?

“Being in power is like being a lady.  If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

- Margaret Thatcher

Do you agree or disagree?
If you could rewrite the quote, what would say?