[MdedBiz Success Tips] Goals Setting
Forget New Year's Resolutions - They Don't Work
Goal setting expert explains real success lies in life
plans, not in making resolutions.
"You can forget about making New Year's Resolutions if
you're hoping for a successful outcome. Most aren't worth
the paper they're written on," says Vic Johnson, a leading
goal setting and motivation expert.
Most New Year's Resolutions have gone by the wayside
before January is over and most won't even be remembered
six months later.
And the reason is pretty simple. Most are made in response
to something negative; a habit or situation that the person
wants to change or end. And therein lies the problem - it's
hard to develop momentum from a negative response. It is
always easier to move toward something than away from
something.
Consider one of the most adopted goals --- weight loss.
No one can get excited about losing weight - it requires
deprivation. It's a negative response to concerns about
appearance, health, etc. The results of weight loss New
Year's Resolutions demonstrate their weakness.
A 1998 survey sponsored by Gardenburger found that more
than three-fourths of all women between the ages of 25 and
54 make diet and weight-loss plans each year. Nearly nine
of 10 respondents reported only occasional or no success,
while almost half lost little or actually gained weight
instead.
"The people who succeed at losing weight and maintaining
the loss have usually been motivated by a dream much bigger
and more positive than just losing weight," explains
Johnson. "They see themselves living a healthy lifestyle.
They begin to act and think like people who are in good
physical shape.
There's more of a radical change in a person's thinking
and actions than you see with most resolutions. It wouldn't
be possible to effect and sustain such a radical change
unless the person is motivated by a big dream that is positive
in nature."
Another popular aim is to quit smoking. Johnson himself
was a three-pack-a-day smoker until he celebrated a smoke-free
New Year's eleven years ago. "For over twenty years I had
tried to quit many times using every tool and technique I'd
hear about. But as long as I was trying to quit, I couldn't
break the grip.
Instead, I developed a dream to become a non-smoker. I fell
in love with the idea of breathing clean air instead of smoky air,
of my body and clothes smelling nice instead of smoky. I
thought about how wonderful it would be to taste food again. I
decided to start acting and thinking like a non-smoker, and when
the thinking took hold I simply quit smoking. In all the years
since, I've never wanted another cigarette, never even thought
about wanting one."
According to Johnson, the best goal to set is one that
calls for the individual to create a plan for their life
based on a set of personal dreams. "Most people are in a
free-fall through life, careening from one crisis to the
next.
If you were going to build a new house and you had
this idea for a fabulous master bedroom suite, you wouldn't
rush out and start building the master bedroom. You'd have
a complete plan before you started.
When you approach resolutions and goals in the same manner,
you end up with a much better chance of achieving success."
Adapted from Vic Johnson's
MdedBiz Success Tips
email me: mded@time.net.my
See the past posting on this blog:
http://mdedbizsuccesstips.blogspot.com
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