It’s been a week into the new year, and I know some of you are already failing your New Year's resolution. Or you are so sure that you’d fail them you didn’t even bother to set any. But it’s still January and it’s not too late to start planning a productive year! Here is a simple rule I follow that I found effective in helping me complete my New Year's resolution.
I design my own planner/diary every year, where I leave a designated space to set and evaluate my New Year's resolution. Over the years I have found the best way to help me reach them and the tip is not to set vague resolutions, but clear goals, objectives, and execution details. I took this from how we wrote proposals back in university when I was studying marketing and public relations. First, let’s learn their differences.
Goal
A goal is a bit vague, similar to what most people’s New Year's resolution are like.
Take a proposal as an example, your goal might be to increase awareness.
Objective
Under each goal, we have several objectives, which need to be specific. Objectives need to have clear numbers that can be examined, evaluated, and verified.
Take a proposal as an example, your objectives might be to gain 3,000 followers in 3 months and reach 10,000 accounts in 1 month.
Execution plan
This is self explanatory. This is where you detail how you are going to reach each objective.
Take a proposal as an example, your execution plan might be to post 3 times a day, have at least 1 interactive post each day, and reach at least 3,000 people with each post. Then you will go on to detail what each post would be about, and plan out what you will be posting for the next 3 months.
How to apply the tips to New Year's resolutions?
Let’s use my resolutions from last year as an example. I had some good ones and some bad ones. And I say this because every resolution that I set following these tips have been completed, while I have not even remotely tended to the others.
My resolutions last year included:
1. To save more money (goal), ☑
i. To make at least NTD$xxx from writing sponsored content (objective), ☑
ii. To make at least NTD$xxx from translation (objective); ☑
2. To read more (goal), ☑
i. To finish reading The Picture of Dorian Gray (objective), ☑
ii. To finish reading at least 1 other book (objective); ☑
3. To become conversation level at Hungarian (goal but I had no objectives); ☒
4. To learn something new (goal but I had no objective and I’m not even sure what this was going to be). ☒
I completed 1 and 2 in a frenzy. So this year, I decided to set up clear execution plans as well! Which would really help me complete my objectives and reach my goals at ease without feeling too pressured. 3 and 4 went down the drain, of course.
So let’s take a look at my resolutions this year:
1. To save more money (goal),
i. To make at least NTD$xxx from writing sponsored content (objective) by taking at least 4 cases per month (execution plan),
ii. To make at least NTD$xxx from translation (objective) by translating at least 4,200 words per month (execution plan),
iii. To save at least NTD$xxx (objective) by saving at least NTD$xxx per month following the above plans (execution plan);
2. To read more (goal),
i. To finish at least 3 books (objective) by reading at least 5 pages a day (execution plan);
3. To improve my Hungarian (goal),
i. To reach checkpoint 2 on Duolingo (objective) by taking at least 4 new lessons per day (execution plan);
4. To create more (goal),
i. To complete my low-carb recipe e-book (objective) by writing down at least 1 recipe per week (execution plan),
ii. To get 4,300 followers on my nail account (objective) by posting at least 5 times a week and scheduling posts through Planoly (execution plan);
iii. To create 50 blog posts (objective) by posting at least 1 time a week–including a list of blog post ideas below (execution plan).
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I know a lot of people’s New Year's resolution would be to eat healthier and to workout more. Those are goals that are hard to set objectives for, so at least set an execution plan that you know would work.
For example, try:
1. To eat healthier (goal),
i. To eat at least xxx grams of protein and less than xx grams of net carbs per day (objective) by eating eggs and avocados for breakfast (execution plan);
Or you could try meal prepping with frozen sous vide chicken breast, grass-fed steak, turkey breast.
You can also skip the objectives when they are too hard to evaluate and go straight to the execution plan:
2. To work out more (goal),
i. To do at least 30 swivel raises per day before eating (execution plan),
ii. To do at least 30 glute bridges with abduction per day (execution plan).
For those who are striving for more elusive goals such as personality and mental health changes, try something like this:
1. To have better control of emotions (goal),
i. To lash out less than 2 times a week (objective) by counting to 10 every time anger starts boiling (execution plan),
ii. To meditate 5 minutes a day (execution plan),
iii. To apologize for every overreaction (execution plan),
iv. To keep a daily diary detailing emotions (execution plan).
Yes, those are much harder and require perseverance, but harder goals always require more dedication. I am also aware that they sound a bit absurd, but that's because they are solutions to something emotional but sound logical. It's hard for us to wrap our heads around how opposite they seem. But turning it into something logical and tangible also makes it more feasible.
Most importantly, make sure that you have a calendar, planner, or diary in any form that’s most convenient for you, where you can log your completion on a daily basis. You’d be surprised how putting a check in a box helps motivate you so immensely. And how much not being able to tick the box would bother you.
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Lastly, keep your numbers and objectives realistic. Make them slightly higher than what you anticipate you can complete to push yourself. But not so glorified and far-fetched that you know you can’t reach them and give up prematurely.
I hope this article helps you. May we all become better versions of ourselves this coming year. And if you need help, comment your New Year's resolutions either here or on my Instagram, and I will reply with how I would set the objectives!
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Lifestyle, workout, doggies: https://www.instagram.com/cheriearia/
Food: https://instagram.com/healthy.cheatdays/