Why I’m not doing a New Years Resolution
Every New Years I have a resolution. Usually it’s something to do with my workout program, or my business, or some other area of my personal life that I’d like to improve. I’m actually a decent resolution keeper too. I would say that I reach 50-80% of my goal. Honestly, it’s pretty good and I last well until summer, and then I’m spotty with the goal until the rest of the year. So why am I not doing a new years resolution for 2020?
Applying Knowledge
In 2019, I learned a lot. Most of what I learned came from some awesome books and podcasts. Because of those resources, I was taught ways to organize my time and really achieve my goals. And I’ve successfully applied the knowledge.
2019 was definitely the year of honing down my goals, putting my head down, and getting to work on them. Part of the reason why I’m not doing a new years resolution stems from that – I’m already actively working on my goals and “resolutions”. Therefor, I don’t see a point of setting any new resolutions/goals for myself.
Changed Mindset
I recently read a book called The 12 Week Year. In essence, it describes how setting yearly goals clearly aren’t working. We start out with good intentions and then fizzle out pretty quickly. The reason that happens is because the time frame is soooo long. 12 months is a long time. It’s hard to see and feel progress and accomplishment when you have to wait 12 months to look back and review. No wonder we can’t stick with anything longer than February.
The authors describe how setting goals and commitments for 12 weeks is much more effective. The deadline fast approaches and we feel that (good) pressure that helps us get stuff done in time. Once we’ve established our goal to go for, we break it down into tangible steps to achieve that goal, and then plan an organize our time so we can do those steps.
It is kind of ironic that I recently read the book and am ready to implement the 12 week plan right as the new year starts. Had I read it any other time in the year, I would have implemented it right away, regardless of where we were in the year.
Planning for 2020
Here’s what I’m doing to plan for 2020:
- Mapping out the long term – Establishing 3-4 long term goals
- These goals are the big ones. The big ones that will actually make a difference. For example, I want to reach 20,000 sales on my Etsy shop in 2020.
- Mapping out the 12 weeks – Breaking long term goals down into a 12 week plan
- Reaching 20,000 sales is a great goal – but I need to do something about it. This is where I’ll break down exactly what I need to do to get to 20,000 at the end of the year. These are like mini goals within the goal. For example, posting every day on social media to help drive traffic will help, and creating more listings in popular categories that people are already purchasing. In the end, these practices will help drive me to the 20,000 goal at the end of the year.
- In my 12 week plan, I write down when and how I’ll do those mini-goal tasks across the 12 weeks. For example, week one I’ll create 50 new designs. Week 2 I’ll post those designs and create 50 more, etc.
- Mapping out my weeks – Planning for success
- By creating a weekly plan, I’m able take my 12 week map and construct it into specific weeks. For me, a lot of my tasks are repetitive and habitual. So if I want to get in shape, then I’m basically planning on how many workouts I do in that week, or how many designs to list on my Etsy shop.
- Mapping out my days – Bite sized tasks
- Writing out the long term goal is fun, but it’s within the day-to-day that the magic happens. Bite sized tasks over time build up to something amazing. Like a favorite scripture of mine says, “by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass.” Each morning I’ll map out my day and include the bite-sized tasks that make up the overall goal achievable. Posting here, editing youtube videos, creating new designs for Airet Graphics, getting the workout done, etc.
At the end of my 12 weeks, I’ll be able to see how much I have achieved. I can see what was working and what wasn’t working. I’ll keep doing what works, and tweak/adjust what wasn’t working for the next 12 weeks. And so on and so forth!
New Years resolutions don’t really work. Continuing with my goals and mapping out goals in 12 week increments is why I’m not doing a new years resolution. 2020 is going to be a game changer.
