People are excited and genuinely want to make changes and this is most commendable. Yet failure and additional frustration is usually eminent. Not to be a patty-piss-a-lot, but facts are facts!  Of course this doesn't have to be the case. I've been fortunate to see the most "impossible" changes take place! But if you are seeking sustainable change, a fresh approach is required.

Interestingly, as you get closer to the day you want to begin your New Year’s Resolution (NYR), you do MORE of what you want to stop! Drink more, smoke more, eat more, work more, etc! It’s like a pre-binge or a pre-rebellion before you begin the NYR, then soon end it in yet another rebelling binge!

Sadly, your New Year’s Resolutions are probably set up to fail. Designed to fail in fact; in large part due to the lack of design and intentionality in their creation. Let’s look at the top New Year’s Resolutions and then why they’re built to fail.

1. Diet / Lose weight

2. Spend More Time With Friends and Family

3. Quit smoking

4. Enjoy life more / Travel / Work less

5. Drink less / Quit Drinking

All seem like worthy goals right? So why do 95 percent of your resolutions fail? A failure to address any of the following 5 elements will unfortunately land your NYR in the fail zone, and usually within 30 days.

1. A failure to create life-style changes or build the exact life you want (change friends, habits, city, job, etc.)

2. A failure to get rid of the reason(s) this problem came about to begin with. (ie, what are you using food, alcohol, excessive work to escape from?)

3. A failure to change thought patterns. (Thinking the same keeps you in the same place.)

4. A failure to have profound & planned actions to support behavior changes. Just saying you want to do something differently will not bring it about. (What SPECIFICALLY will you do differently to reach your goal? Hint: things like, “I’ll eat better”, “I’ll try harder”, “I’ll work less”, will never get you where you want to go, they are not specific enough.)

5. A failure to change your environment and create a sustainable support system for change. (Who will support your efforts and how will they do so? Who will try to sabatoge your efforts and how will you remove them? )

Take Action!

Move through “fail list” above and turn it into a plan for success! Lay out your intentions with specifics and attend to it each day.

If you want lasting change and are struggling to do so, let one of our coaches help! sbyler@intentionalinfluence.com

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