The Art of Mindful Goal Setting
How’s that New Year’s resolution going? If you answered great then this post isn’t for you. If you answered, \”not well\” then you’d be resonating with 80% of New Year’s resolutioners. The stats tell us that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February. Why is that?
The reality is, often New Year\’s resolutions don\’t stick because we set really big goals and expect really big results in a short period of time. When we treat the marathon like a sprint the odds of burn the odds of burn out increase significantly. One of the most common resolutions is weight loss. We\’ve all been there, three weeks deep on KETO- or whatever else your fitness Pinterest account suggested and the only thing the scale show is half a pound lost. Instant discouragement sets in, feelings of failure ensue and suddenly you’re drowning your sorrows at Krispy Kreme. What if there was a different way that ensured longevity and success, and didn’t make you feel like you had to change your entire life overnight?
The most successful people recognize that working smarter not harder can be the key to longevity. In this case, working smarter towards a New Year’s resolution means setting bite-size, attainable goals- allowing space to celebrate the small wins along the way. Celebrating the small wins is an effective technique that can help keep you engaged and motivated for the next goal ahead.
You may have heard it by now, but if you haven’t, mindfulness is another solid technique for behavior change and goal setting. To put it simply, mindfulness is a holistic practice of experiencing the present moment. It’s been noted that individuals who practice mindfulness are better goal setters because they tend to pick goals that are in direct alignment with their values and beliefs, resulting in a much higher success rate when it comes to achieving goals.
So even if that New Year’s resolution isn’t going as well as you initially planned, there’s still hope. You don’t have to throw out a month of progress just because you didn’t lose 50lbs or save $100,000 before February 1st. You don’t have to set a New Year’s resolution to change a behavior or start something new, you just need the right mindset and a little self-love because as it turns out, slow & steady really does win the race.
