You’ve made your New Year’s resolutions list. What now? Can you manage to do all, let alone one, of them?
Let’s face it. There’s something about New Year’s resolutions that can’t stand the bane of bad habits and procrastination. Either they’re too vague, too general, or too hard to remember.
But take heart, we’ve got some alternatives to your “shoulda-woulda-coulda" list that can help you get focused, motivate you to achieve your goals, and inspire you to envision greater dreams for the future. If you want to make 2010 your best year ever, try these no-nonsense moves to amp up your personal power.
Word power. Pick a word that can help you get fired up and keep your focus for 2010.
Choose your “Word of the Year"
If you were to pick a theme for 2010, what would it be? It can be abundance, beauty, peace, health, love, freedom, or anything that is particularly significant to you. Choose a word that encapsulates your goals and make it your focus for the whole year.
A single word would be easier to remember than a long resolutions list. But if you need visual cues, you can write it down on a card that you can carry with you everyday. You can make a poster with the word written on it and hang it on your bedroom wall. Or, better yet, you can have it engraved on a bracelet or key chain that you will always see. Do whatever works and feels good for you.
It’s important for you to remind yourself of your special word so you can align your actions with it. Let’s say “health" is your word of the year. Then, you should say it over and over again to yourself when you’re at the snack counter choosing between the humongous bag of potato chips and a bag of sliced apples. If your word is “peace," keep it in mind when you have to deal with annoying people.
One word may seem too simple but its power lies in following it to the letter.
Free tool: Artist and creativity consultant Christine Kane offers a free Word of the Year Discovery Tool that you can download for free from her site.
Real tasks. Take it one step at a time and stick to things that you know you can do.
Write down detailed life goals
If you wake up each morning feeling lost or if you’re living aimlessly, take your cue from former football coach, ex-ESPN sports analyst, and author Lou Holtz. “If you are bored with life, if you don’t get up every morning without a burning desire to do things, you don’t have enough goals," he advised.
So how do you make 2010 better than 2009?
Decide on specific goals that you want to achieve in every area of your life and write them down. In his bestselling book The Success Principles, renowned inspirational author Jack Canfield suggests having measurable goals for your finances, career, leisure, health, relationships, and personal growth.
What makes a goal better than a resolution is in the details. Resolutions are vague declarations of things you wish you could do or think you should do like “I will live a healthier lifestyle." Goals are definite actions that you can do like “I will eat one serving of fruit at every meal and walk for 15 minutes every day starting today."
Commit to your goals with confidence because they can get you closer to the life of your dreams.
Free tool: Visit Canfield’s site where you can download goal–setting and success tools.
Dream big. Visualize the things you want and work hard to get them.
Make a vision board
If you want to kick your goals up a notch, collect pictures that represent each of them and make a vision board. Choose beautiful images that will inspire you and motivate you to look at them every day. Hang them near your bed so that these will be the first things you‘ll see when you wake up.
How do they work? Businessman and author John Assaraf—who built his dream house and fulfilled other goals with the help of vision boards—shows you how in his book The Complete Vision Board Kit. He explains: “As the image of your dream takes root inside you, you start to shift the way you think and act. That image starts percolating in your mind, both consciously and subconsciously, and you start putting out feelers and taking action, day by day that moves you closer to your dreams."
If you’re an artist, try drawing or painting your own vision board. If you like to write, add affirmations and inspiring words to your pictures. The important thing is to visualize your goals clearly and imbibe the empowering feelings that come from achieving them.
You have to dare to envision grand dreams.
Free tool: Sign up at Oprah Winfrey's site and access the O Dream Board desktop application so you can make a vision board that you can use as your computer’s wallpaper.
Whether you choose to carry out just one or all of the life-changing moves, the most important thing is for you to just do it! Remember to do everything with great confidence—and have fun while you’re at it. Great things start to happen when you tap into your reservoir of personal power. So, start the decade right and make 2010 your best year ever.
