Resolutions are an incredible tool for working on improving and bettering yourself. But at the end of the day they are goals just really big, annual goals! Which means that resolutions are also susceptible to common goal setting mistakes. So let’s talk about these goal setting mistakes you need to address before you set your resolutions this year!
As much as it’s important to avoid goal setting mistakes I also want to quickly cover some positive goal setting tips.
Tips and advice for setting goals:
- Make sure that every goal you set has actionable steps that you can know you are definitely taking.
- Also make sure that the goals are measurable. So you can see your progress and know if you have successfully completed the goal.
- Keep your goals list visible so that you can have daily motivation and inspiration to keep working on them.
- Always be patient with yourself if you don’t hit a goal by it’s deadline. It’s so much better to have tried and missed than to have not tried at all.
- Be realistic about the amount of time you really have in the month to complete your goals.
Now that we have quickly covered some positive goal setting tips let’s get into these goal setting mistakes so that you can set better resolutions this year and work on bettering yourself!
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Goal Setting Mistakes You Need To Address Before Setting Resolutions!
Set better resolutions by avoiding these goal setting mistakes:
Mistake 1: Setting way too many goals.
When I was younger I would set probably 30 new year goals. And of course that means I didn’t have the time or plans to achieve them all so I would give up after 2 months on all of them.
Thankfully I have learned over the years that focusing on 2-4 resolutions significantly increase the chances that you can complete them and actually create the new habits/improved life that you are wanting.
If you want to actually achieve your new year goals to better your life you are better off focusing on just a few!
Below are tips for picking the few new year goals you actually want to focus on.
If you start thinking of resolutions and end up with 20 then take a hard look at the list and do 2 things: prioritize and categorize.
To prioritize- take a little bit to truly think about what you want from the next year. Envision what will make you feel successful and satisfied at the end of the year. Use those visions to really determine what is going to be the most important resolutions for you to focus your time and energy on.
To categorize- still have 15 things on the list? Probably because a lot of them really fall under one larger resolution goal. For example, is go to the gym 4 times a week, eat 2 servings of veggies every day, and lose 5 pounds a month all on your list? Well those all fall under a larger umbrella of getting healthy. Those are different steps towards that resolution but don’t need to be separated out into their own resolutions.
Mistake 2: Not having measurable goals.
In order for you to ever be able to “achieve” a goal you need to be able to measure what that means.
And a very common goal setting mistake is to set goals that don’t actually have any way to measure them. So when you are setting your resolutions this year make sure to set them as measurable goals.
Ask yourself what is the way that you know that you have achieved the goal. And if you can’t answer that question than you need to re-work that goal in order to make sure it is a measurable goal so you can actually achieve it and track your progress.
The best way is to have a number to measure your goals but there are other ways as well so get creative but make sure that they are easy to measure.
Mistake 3: Not pushing yourself.
Goals and resolutions are meant to help you grow as a person and improve yourself.
And if your goals are not pushing you then they won’t actually help you better yourself! Don’t be afraid to set goals that are on the side of ambitious as long as they are reasonable but we will talk more about that in a minute.
Having goals that push you is one of the best ways that you can work on improving yourself and growing into the best version of you. So make sure when you are setting your resolutions to make sure that they are challenging and pushing you.
Mistake 4: Not having a timeline.
It may seem like resolutions are annual but that is not always true. Sometimes they are more permanent and sometimes they are temporary. And often we want to achieve them by a certain point in the year.
Which is why it is I’m reminding you of the importance of avoiding this goal setting mistake. So when you are making your goals and their action plans make sure that you are assigning a timeline to each individual goal.
Mistake 5: Skipping the little steps.
Skipping the little steps is such an easy mistake to make.
We tend to focus on the big, life changing steps. And forget that usually accomplishing a goal is mainly up to doing the little steps regularly. Daily habits can really make or break the success of your resolutions!
So when you are making plans and working towards your goals don’t get so caught up in the big parts of it that you forget about the little steps.
Mistake 6: Not keeping your motivation in mind.
Motivation and understand why you’re setting your goals is so important. When you just set a goal without thinking about your motivation behind it you are so much less likely to achieve that goal.
So make sure that you are keeping your motivation in mind while you are making your resolutions for this year.
Also, after you have started working on the goals make sure to keep your motivation visible. I recommend making your phone screensaver a motivating quote or a picture of what is inspiring you to better yourself!
Mistake 7: Being far too unrealistic.
As I mentioned before it is so important to push yourself but within reason.
You want your goals to challenge you to better yourself but you also want to make sure that they are feasible goals. Finding that middle ground can take a bit but it is an important middle ground to strive to discover in order to be successful at achieving your goals!
Mistake 8: Not re-evaluating when needed.
You will absolutely have life changing circumstances at some point in your life that mean that you may be working towards a goal that is no longer applicable or a high priority.
You may find yourself in a circumstance where you need to temporarily pause your goals too and that is totally okay! Don’t burn yourself out by trying to achieve personal goals that you don’t have time for at that moment.
Accept that re-evaluation will be needed as things change in your life and as you complete goals you will need to re-prioritize and set new goals.
Mistake 9: Not having a road map
No goal or resolution is just one step. “Get healthy” has so many steps and parts and is going to be super personalized for everyone.
This step is so important for really achieving your realistic new year resolutions.
Some resolutions like “spend less time on my phone” don’t have nearly as many stages but something super ambitious like “launch my own company” has 20-30 stages (and will require a whole business plan!). But don’t let the stages scare you! It’s best to map it all out so you know that you can start at the beginning and succeed.
Making literally a road map to success can take away a lot of the stress of resolutions and can help make them actually achievable. This is especially important if you have a pretty intense resolution that you are aiming for. This is such a common goal setting mistake but you need to avoid it!
Korra-Shay
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