Tips on maintaining focus on your new years resolution

So its the end of January, the glitz of the New Years celebration has worn off for sure, the winter weather has moved in for a 3 month sublet and right about now is the time when we all get a little slippery with the resolutions we were so gung-ho about on New Years Day. If you're saying "Yes, that's me" and/or you find yourself wondering what exactly it was that you've resolved to change in 2010, here are 5 tips on how to give your resolutions a booster shot for lasting positive change.



1) Make it specific.

A resolution "to get more rest" is general and allows for too much wiggle room. Don't let yourself wiggle out of your commitment. Write down your resolution in it's most simple essential form. For example: I will go to bed at 9:30pm, 3 days a week for one month.





2) Put it in your calendar.

When do you want to achieve this resolution. In the example above, choose a specific day to begin and a specific day to end, then commit. If it's a "being-state" resolution - For example: you want to be nicer to your mother-in-law - then break it down to specific step by step actionable components that you can track. For example: I will call my mother-in-law once a week and ask, "how are you?" This is a simple actionable step that supports the larger resolution of wanting to be nicer to your mother-in-law.





3) Be held accountable to your resolution.

Tell someone - who is not a friend - that you want to achieve this resolution and ask them to help you with it. A co-worker, supervisor, employer, coach or mentor. It's important that it not be a friend because friends tend to let us slide when we get lazy or unspecific about our goals. A boss, supervisor, mentor or coach is more likely to hold you to what it is you say you want to do. Especially a coach. That's our job!





4) Make a resolution that you actually want to achieve.

Wanting it for yourself, working towards it, knowing that your quality of life will improve because of it will sustain you during times when you lack focus. So check your gut. Ask yourself what you truly want to resolve. Then commit to it.





5) Make it BIG for cryin' out loud!

You want to incorporate a resolution (change) in you life, so step boldly into it. Visualize yourself already doing/being that resolution. Allow yourself to feel what its like and claim it as yours. Personify who you will be once the resolution is achieved.
Here's a hint: It's OK if it's a little scary. That makes it exciting and it also expands the limits of who you think you are & what you can do. It's always more than what you think. Always.


Good luck! And know that we can all do & be what want by:

a) Claiming it

b) Committing to it

c) Achieving it

For more information on how to maintain focus on your New Years Resolutions, how to set clear resonant goals & achieve them go to http://www.visceralcoaching.com/



Robert Dioguardi, CPCC

Certified Empowerment Coach

http://www.visceralcoaching.com/