Three Musts for Effective Resolutions

When you think of resolutions that you’ve made, which list is longer, the resolutions you still do or the ones which you no longer do? If you’re like most of us, the latter is much longer. It is very common that we are inspired, have good intentions, envision a better version of ourselves and make a resolution. Yet, when we step out of idealism, bringing our resolution into realism seems to be a great challenge. Here are three musts if you want your resolutions to have a chance of surviving and even thriving.

Begin Now

When you are inspired to make a positive change, don’t delay, begin right away.

While inspiration is often not grounded, it’s a power booster to jolt us awake and get us started. When you are inspired to make a positive change, don’t delay, begin right away. Very often we say we’ll begin tomorrow. That’s the first indication that we’re not deeply inspired. Inspiration can be like mist, it evaporates quickly it disappears into thin air. To turn the inspiration into something concrete we need to act immediately.

Realistic, Not Idealistic

We need to make the effort to think through how the resolution will look in reality.

Now that you’ve started, you need to sustain your commitment to this resolution. Often our desire for change comes at a moment of inspiration. When we’re inspired we are few inches off the ground. When there’s a gap between our idealism and reality, and there usually is, if our resolution is being made ‘up there,’ it usually won’t survive ‘down here.’ We need to make the effort to think through how the resolution will look in reality and see if we’re truly ready to take it on. Very often, the burden of breaking something down into detail and as they say, “the devil is in the details.” “When do I have time, how long will it take and who else do I need on board” are all important questions to ask and answer if we want our resolution to be sustained.

Less is More

Consistent and steady gets you much further much faster.

Lastly, we must remember that less is more. Gulping down food leads to indigestion or a stomach ache. We are meant to eat things one bite at a time. Life is a process. Change requires our system to acclimate. This is the reason why runners don’t begin a race running their fastest. Consistent and steady gets you much further much faster. Whatever it is that you want to undertake, slice it in half, even if it appears to be too easy. As the saying goes, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” When you master this half you’ll work on the other half.

In conclusion, challenge yourself to a new resolution. Life is growth and resolutions help us grow. Wishing you much success!