Resolutions that Change the Game (From Tips & Tactics Dec 21)

As the holidays arrive, many of us take stock of the past year and make resolutions for the next. Unfortunately, these resolutions are often only wishful thinking. I read a study recently indicating only 9% of the people who make New Year resolutions feel successful in keeping them by the end of the next year! That's discouraging. So, here's a tip to turn it around. 

I think the reason most New Year’s Resolutions fail is because they’re pitched wrong from the start. They’re either New Year’s Revolutions aimed at overthrowing or turning around a big problem in our lives, or they’re New Year’s Restitutions aimed at making up for some chronic deficiency or past failure. Either way, when we aim at aspirations like these, we’re making a bad bet, one that will require a large investment for a limited return, and one that is likely to leave us more discouraged than different. Unfortunately, no ball-dropping-champagne-fueled-moment-of-clarity-and-conviction is likely to reverse the well-worn path of habit or turn you into something you’re not. I believe in personal development and I make a life out of helping people achieve it, and I've learned that the way to achieve it isn’t always to stop and go in another direction. In fact, some of the most meaningful and achievable change in your life lies on (or at least near) the trajectory  you're already on right now.

What if this year, when the confetti flies and the calendar turns, you didn’t purpose to fix something wrong with yourself or to be more like you should be, but instead redoubled your efforts to be even more of who you already are? What if you didn’t try to backfill some gap in your abilities or whip up some discipline you lack, but instead tried to do more with the talents and habits you already have? What if you stopped trying so hard to be everything, and turned your attention to making the most of your thing?

This year, up the ante on the hand you’ve been dealt instead of betting on the come. Take a closer look at who you are and how you're wired and make some resolutions to develop and deploy the strongest and best parts of you more effectively in the new year instead of laboring to fix the weakest and worst. If you do, you'll be as imperfect in 2022 as in 2021, but you'll also get more traction, feel more encouraged, and ultimately make more impact on the people and projects that matter most to you. That's good deal and great development!