Make Wishes Become Goals

Ahhh, New Years and all that comes with it. Resolution time, new beginning time -- whatever you want to call it. I've had discussions with people who despise New Year's resolutions and those who faithfully make them every year. Those that feel like it's too much pressure to make a list of "improvements" and those that feel like the beginning of the year is the perfect time to sit down and write out some goals.
Me? I fit in the second category. I actually enjoy sitting down and evaluating how I'm doing and what I'd like to work on in the coming year. In some ways it is like the last year has been wiped clean and I can forget about the past and my shortcomings and start over fresh. I tend to beat myself up about my faults and bad habits, so at the beginning of the new year, I feel like I can put it all behind me and start over.
I used to sit down and write a huge list of everything I wanted to do, change, be, etc. But, as I've gotten older and hopefully, wiser, I've realized that those kind of lists did nothing but make me feel overwhelmed and discouraged. I didn't have a focus or a plan. Goals don't accomplish themselves, so if you write down a few things arbitrarily, with no idea as to how you are going to work on them, they are only "wishes." Trust me, I've had a lot of "wishes" and they've stayed that way unless I've laid out a plan. So if you're the list-making kind, here are a few steps that have helped me make my wishes become goals:
1) Break it down by category

I like to fit my goals into a few categories which usually include: Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Financial, etc.  You can also break it up into roles: Home, Work, Community, etc. I've found that breaking it up into a few categories -- remember, not too many -- helps me to flesh out the different areas in my life that need attention and I can go from there.

2) Start writing down things in each category -- as many as you would like

 I usually write everything down that I can thing of in each category that I would like to change, improve, quit, etc. Don't worry about the number right now because the next step is:

3) Go through the list and whittle down the most important/ most realistic

Again, you don't want to overwhelm yourself, so find the couple of things that you are really committed to working on this year. The number is up to you -- I've had a couple years that I only had one or two things on my final list -- but be realistic about how much time you'll have this coming year and if you can devote some of that precious time to these goals.

4) Make a plan

This is probably the most important step of all. You need to figure out how you are going to accomplish these goals. Writing down "start a resistance training program" is not going to be effective unless you can be specific and write a game-plan. If you've never lifted a weight before, you can decide to hire a personal trainer for a while. You could buy an exercise video that incorporates resistance training. You could enlist the help of a friend or family member that is savvy in that area. It doesn't matter what the specific steps are, just find what will work for you.

5) Make your goal measurable

If one of your goals is to start a resistance training program, quantify it. Be specific about how you're going to accomplish it, but also how many times a week would you like to lift weights? Once, twice? If you put a number to it, you can look back and know whether you are on the right track or not. Measurable goals are far more likely to be accomplished than those that are just words on a page with no way to really see if you've made any progress. Instead of "start running" you could say "Run a 5K on May 14th" -- then SIGN UP for the race! Then you have a deadline and a measurable goal.

6) Evaluate more than once a year

If you wait until December 31st to review your New Year's resolutions, you'll probably be disappointed with the results. As you make your goals also write down a time a few months down the line to reevaluate how they're coming along. If you need to make changes, make them and move on.

As you make these goals, you don't have to do it exactly this way. I'm just putting this out there because this has worked for me. I need to see which goals are important to me, I need to have a way to measure them and usually I need a deadline. I guess I work better under the pressure. Do whatever works best for you and focus on those things that are the most important and worth the commitment. 

Good luck and let me know how it goes!