Happy New Year!
Welcome to our first blog post of the year and the first in our series of BOLD Law Blogs! The BOLD Laws are lifestyle “laws” compiled by KW MAPS Coaching of Keller Williams Realty. These laws are not meant solely for realtors – they are meant for anyone who desires to live a successful and fulfilling life. If you fit that bill, then please read on and enjoy!
Bold Law Blog #1
The new year is the traditional time for setting goals, intentions, and resolutions for the coming 12 months. Just under half of all Americans say they set a New Year’s resolution, yet less than 10% of those who set a resolution actually attain them.
This likely won’t come as a big surprise to you – there are many reasons people fall off the track to success throughout the year. To start, many resolution-setters fail to make practical, explicit resolutions in the first place, which quickly causes issues. For example, a majority of resolution-setters will make the age-old resolution to lose weight – and simply that. A resolution as general as this does not provide any sort of measurement for success. Does “losing weight” mean losing 1 pound, 5 pounds, or 50 pounds? And in what timeframe – simply by the end of the year? Most people set goals by visualizing the outcome of those goals – looking skinnier, feeling healthier, having more money, etc. The issue with setting resolutions this way is that everyone’s definition of success is flexible. A person’s idea of success can change throughout a year (especially if they’ve been working hard on a difficult resolution. They may settle for a success that is less great than the one they initially desired. If the resolution-setter doesn’t see results quickly, they may get discouraged and waver or quit completely. On the other end, if they do see results, often times they feel they’ve reached their goal and therefor become complacent. This often results in relapse and the eventual failure of the resolution. Resolutions should be created with defined measurements and numbers. For example, the resolution “to lose 30 pounds by December 31, 2016,” is a much better resolution than “to lose weight.”
Another significant misstep is that most people do not create a concrete plan for their resolution. A concrete plan would include defined, smaller, graduated goals with specific due dates to hit throughout the year, as well as the individual practices that they will participate in to help them reach their goals. Attaining smaller goals keeps the resolution-setter with the taste of success in their mouth and keeps them more motivated to continue reaching for the larger resolution.
“If it is not on your schedule, it doesn’t exist,” is a fitting belief for those who intend on actually reaching the goals they set this year. The main idea of this BOLD law is that if you do not add your tasks and goals into your daily scheduling tool, you are much less likely to complete them. Even if you have a sound plan to attain your resolution, it will be much more difficult to complete the respective tasks without scheduling a set time to get them done or to go over your progress. In life, the more immediate here-and-now tasks have a tendency of taking attention away from those things that you can “work on later,” when you “aren’t so busy.” If you create an immovable time in your day to work on your goal and stick to it, you are much more likely to succeed than if you leave that time as a floating chore to do whenever it’s convenient. This is especially true for resolutions, due to the fact that attaining a resolution is usually full of tasks that are difficult, painful, or unappealing to the resolution-setter – that is why they weren’t getting it done in the first place!
Help yourself out – sit down with your specific New Year’s resolution in mind and create a detailed plan to reach it. Remember to include smaller, short-term goals along the way. Then add it to your scheduling tool of choice – your google calendar, your task list, a task management app (try asansa, Todoist, or Toodledo), or your daily planner. Once this is done, you don’t need to spend any extra time remembering what you were supposed to do and making time for it wherever it happens to fit. All you’ll have to do is follow your schedule and simply DO it.
Help yourself out – sit down with your specific New Year’s resolution in mind and create a detailed plan to reach it. Remember to include smaller, short-term goals along the way. Then add it to your scheduling tool of choice – your google calendar, your task list, a task management app (try asansa, Todoist, or Toodledo), or your daily planner. Once this is done, you don’t need to spend any extra time remembering what you were supposed to do and making time for it wherever it happens to fit. All you’ll have to do is follow your schedule and simply DO it.
If it is not on your schedule, then it doesn't exist.