The new year is upon us and many people simply fail in achieving their resolutions. People fail because they find achieving their resolution simple makes them unhappy. An unhappy person attempting to achieve a goal is most likely to never reach their goal. At least in my past, I have go down this road, choosing to focus on a goal that ultimately goes against what I chose as happiness. We can be success two ways, either change the goal or change the definition of happiness. Many people choose the first, changing the goal. In the case that you really do want to achieve some goal, maybe you should try changing your definition of what makes you happy. For example, many years ago I set out to lose 20 pounds and stop drinking for a couple of months. These are great goals, especially after a holiday season with friends and family.

My challenge, I enjoy having a drink with my wife or with friends in social settings or just having a drink with dinner. Meeting this goal created unhappiness. As you can imagine, like the majority of people, I failed to stick to my new year's resolutions, not even making it to the end of January. After failing for years, I started applying the same principles I follow when I go surfing. When I go out surfing, I am highly motivated to get out into the water. My motivation comes from many sources: surfing with my family, friends, perfect waves, off shore wind, just needing to relax, getting way from daily tasks, or any other reason. I can always guarantee I have a great time when I am out in the water because if I get in the water, I am happy even if I don't catch a wave. I have been out where the water was flat, but I still paddled out; I still had a great time. My definition of happiness was simple.

The two most important principles when setting goals comes from that experience of surfing: get motivated and find easy ways of being happy. When I am motivated, I can do just about anything. When I wanted to lose weight, I got motivated. I listed out every reason for which I wanted to be thin and healthy. The list was pretty long, and it was very motivating. Next I set my happiness bar low. I am lazy when it comes to happiness, I would be happy simple getting to eat vegetables and celery. I ended up losing the weight I wanted easily because of the two principles I use when surfing: getting motivated and find easy ways of being happy.

Here are the two principles. Each principle has steps to take which may help in achieving your resolutions this year.
Principle 1: Be motivated! Write down your goal on a blank piece of paper. Under that goal, write down why you want that goal. Write down as many motivating items as you can imagine. What will get you motivated? Once you completed the list, try writing more. Again, get motivated.
Principle 2: Be lazy! Finding the simplest way to enjoy the process while achieving your goal. If you are happy working towards something, you are motivated. Your chances of success increase significantly. Flip the piece of paper over. Write down everything which would make you happy easily while working on achieving your goal. Those activities or feelings need to be aligned with your goals. For example, in surfing, I am happy getting into the water. I have to achieve something, but it's pretty easy to get into the water.

Once you have your two lists, you are on your way towards reaching your goals. If you lose motivation, read out load your motivations and ways of achieving happiness. You can do it.

Author's Bio: 

I have over 20 years of experience in business, engineering, education, and helping kids and adults reach for their dreams. I have two undergradulate degrees in understanding human behavior, I attended master programs for both engineering and another for business. I have worked in the desert with kids and been a senior leader at a couple of fortune 500 companies. I started a successful company, raised capital, and been living a life with friends and family. I've been a programmer, CEO, and a Chairman. I have read 100s of books on self-improvement, management, and been a trainer for one of the most famous public speaking courses in the world. I've made it my life to understand how people achieve their own greatness. I am also a father, husband, and friend. Most importantly, I love the ocean and beach. I surfed when I was a kid, took a long break and started back up as an adult. I love surfing.

Most importantly, I have struggled with achieving the enjoyment of the struggles of life until I was older. Even when we look around in life, we see success all around us, but we may not know the internal struggles people have to achieve those successes. I have been that person, not really enjoying or grateful for what I have in life and what I could achieve if I just focused on the right elements in life.

As for my philosophy, I look at challenges in life like I look at a wave. It's coming no matter what I do, I can't stop a wave from coming. How I position myself determines if I am going to ride, get tumbled, or go over it. I don't hate the wave or fear the wave. This is how I can help you. I can help you position yourself to get exactly what you want from that wave, whether the wave occurs in your job, relationship, money, or yourself.

See you on the waves! Live happy. Visit http://www.silvrstrand.com