Four Surefire Steps to Keeping Your Resolutions

Most of us are quite willing to make a New Years resolution, but how many of us really achieve our goals? According to Wikipedia the sad fact is only about 12%.

It’s such a low success rate one wonders if it is even worth the effort of trying. If you are starting to feel this way - take heart. Here are four easy-to-follow steps to increasing your chances of success.

Forget New Year’s – Make It a Life Changing Resolution

One of the reasons most of us don’t keep our New Year’s resolutions is once the festivities of the holidays are behind us we begin to lose incentive. To keep up the momentum, begin by believing you are going to make a life altering resolution rather than some temporary change just for the New Year.

Create a Crystal Clear Vision of Success

Take some time and visualize exactly what your life will be like once you have achieved success. If losing weight is your goal, imagine what you will look like when you succeed. How will you feel? What new clothes will you wear? What will others say about your success? What new experiences will you have? Let your mind enjoy all of the possibilities. It’s your vision; you can make it whatever you want. Once your new vision is clear in your mind’s eye, write it down. Write it in first person. Write things like: I feel more energetic than I have felt in years. I feel younger and more alive. I look better, in fact I look great especially in those jeans I had in the back of my closet for the past five years. They fit perfectly and I have the nicest ass around. I LOOK GOOD.

Develop Your Plan

Once you’ve created your vision, develop a plan to succeed. Write down the steps you will take to insure your success. Ask yourself if there are any potential roadblocks that may stand in your way. If you know what has hampered your success in the past, write down what you will do to avoid these hazards this time. Next, write a list of actions steps you will take to implement your plan. Make these realistic. If one of your action steps is to walk five miles five times each week and you haven’t exercised for years, start by walking for ten or twenty minutes. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can increase your walking to meet your goals. It’s much better to experience small successes than to become frustrated by trying to achieve the impossible. It’s also much healthier.

Recruit a Coach

Find someone to act as your coach. This can be a friend, a relative, or best of all, a Certified Professional Life Coach. The most important thing in selecting a coach is to find someone who you can absolutely count on to help you remain accountable to your plan. You’ll need someone who will be there to measure your results and motivate you on your road to success. The right coach is your sounding board, your task master and your cheerleader.

Begin the process by sharing your vision, plans and action steps. Your coach can only help if he or she knows where you want to end up. Next, set a rock solid schedule of times to meet with your coach. These meetings can be in person, over the phone or online. How you meet is not nearly as important as committing to meeting regularly.

Finally, never miss a coaching session. The single most important thing you can do to achieve your goals is to show up. This is where most people fail in holding to their resolutions and achieving their objectives, but this is where you, with the help of your coach, will succeed. Best wishes for making 2009 your best year ever.