Whether its health and fitness plans, business plans or personal spending plans – everyone starts the year with the very best of intentions. But the brutal reality is that most of us who set goals for January will have already failed by now. In fact, statistics indicate around 80% of people who set New Year goals won鈥檛 deliver on them.
For the eight-in-ten dealing with this, it can be tempting to quit. But here, top聽聽Drew Povey, explains why missing your January goals could be the best thing that happens to you this year. And he also explains the three key questions those preparing to 鈥済o again鈥� must ask.
鈥�January is a time for setting intentions for the year to come, but statistics show, over and over again, that the majority of us aren’t able to deliver on what we aspire to. But rather than throw in the towel, this failure can be used as a launchpad for positive change. February, for me, is the perfect month to reset. Over and over again I鈥檝e seen people who fail in January use it as the launchpad for success. Which is why not hitting your goals last month could be the best thing that ever happens to you this year.”
Start by reflecting. Use the beginning of February to review why you failed. More often than not people struggle to hit their goals in January because they are looking for a quick fix. We don鈥檛 want to wait for the results, we want instant gratification and when we don鈥檛 get that, we give up.”
“But another reason so many of us don鈥檛 hit our goals is that people try to do too much, too soon. We do dry January, we give up smoking, we go on diets, we try to switch up our finances to save money because we鈥檝e overspent at Christmas, we outline transformational business plans. All this just creates a huge mountain which is far too daunting for most people to address, so we give up. But just because you鈥檝e failed in January, doesn鈥檛 mean you should write off setting goals again so soon.”
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Don鈥檛 think of it as failing, think of January as a crash course in learning what worked and, of course, what didn’t work.” But to make sure you do succeed with your February reset, it鈥檚 important you ask yourself three questions:
- Firstly, what do you really want? Digging down to find the driving factor behind your goals allows you to have real clarity on what it is you want to achieve. Do you want to lose a few pounds because that鈥檚 what people do in January, or do you want to make a long-lasting improvement to your health or feel better about yourself?
- The second question is, how much do you want it?聽 Because if it鈥檚 just a half-hearted 鈥榥ice to have鈥�, then the motivation which gets you through those challenges and temptations won鈥檛 be there.聽 Ask yourself on a scale of one to ten, how much do you really want this? Ten is, 鈥業鈥檓 desperate to get this鈥� whereas one is 鈥業鈥檓 not really that bothered, to be honest.鈥� If you鈥檙e closer to one than ten, find a different goal
- Finally ask yourself, how much are you willing to sacrifice? What are you willing to give up to go up to achieve this? If the answer is, 鈥榥ot much鈥� then you鈥檝e learned pretty quickly why you didn鈥檛 succeed in January
鈥淪etting goals is the difference between ambling through life or setting yourself in a clear direction and this is particularly important in business. Having a pint half way through dry January might make you annoyed with yourself, but its impact overall won鈥檛 be much. But not setting goals in your work life, particularly if you are responsible for driving that business, can make the difference between success and failure.”
“We should always live our life with purpose, regardless of what that purpose is. That鈥檚 the difference between letting things happen and making things happen. After all, you don鈥檛 get in your car without knowing where you are going so why should your life be any different?”
鈥淎nd if you do succeed? My advice is to celebrate success. I don鈥檛 think we do that nearly enough but we鈥檙e very keen on pointing out failures. But just as it鈥檚 useful to learn from failure, it鈥檚 also important we learn from success. People talk about going again after they鈥檝e met their goals, but we don’t talk enough about going again smarter. It鈥檚 about understanding what we鈥檝e learned from our achievements, celebrating the ones that we鈥檝e met and understanding the ones where it didn鈥檛 go to plan. If we strive to learn from each and every experience, when we go again, we do it that little bit smarter.鈥�
