7 Steps to Resolutions That Stick

It’s that time of year again: Resolution Time. The time of year where we all resolve to be better and meet our goals. The only problem is most of us don’t. Most of us create resolutions and abandon them within a month or two. But it isn’t for lack of trying or for a lack of desire. Usually, it’s for lack of a good plan.

At GOLDPoint Systems we are quite fond of meeting goals, and we enjoy helping others meet goals too. That’s probably why on average our clients have grown 220% since coming onto our system. We’re overachievers, what can we say?

With that in mind, we thought we’d help all the people who read our blog set themselves up to actually achieve those incredibly elusive resolutions. Here are seven steps you can take to conquer your goals in 2023:

1. Find Your Why

Whatever your resolution is, you need to know WHY you want to achieve it. But not only that, you need to know the REAL reason you want to achieve it. The reason buried deep down inside of you. Once you know your WHY, it will be a lot easier to stick to your goal. So, how can we find our true WHY? There are a couple of different ways to do this, but I prefer the Seven-Levels-Deep Method. Basically, you ask yourself why seven times. Here’s how it works.

Let’s say you want to lose weight (a fairly common resolution), you would begin by asking yourself why.

1. Why do you want to lose weight? Because I want to be healthier.
2. Why do you want to be healthier? Because I want to have more energy.
3. Why do you want to have more energy? Because I want to be able to run around with my kids.
4. Why do you want to be able to run around with your kids? Because I want to have fun with my kids.
5. Why do you want to have fun with your kids? Because I want to be a fun parent.
6. Why do you want to be a fun parent? Because I want to give my kids the best of me.
7. Why do you want to give your kids the best of you? Because I love my kids and they deserve a great parent.

Boom! That’s your WHY! Now, when you think about why you should do that workout or eat that salad or not eat that donut, you can tell yourself it’s because you love your kids and they deserve a great parent. That’s way more powerful than just because you want to lose weight. With a WHY that deep, you’ll have a lot more motivation. (By the way, you can also have someone else ask you the Seven Whys. Sometimes this is more powerful for people.)

2. Be Smart (What Actually Works)

Now that you have your WHY, it’s time to be smart. And, no, I’m not talking about making SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). Those are all fine and good, but I don’t actually like them. And this is my post, so we are skipping those. When I talk about being smart, I am talking about planning out your goals in a way that really works. For example, it’s easier, and therefore smarter, to not eat the 215 calories in the Snickers bar than it is to put on all your exercise gear and then run for 1.25-2 miles.

Think it through. What’s the easiest way to reach your goal? If it’s losing weight, then what you eat or don’t eat has a larger effect than exercise. If you want to get out of debt, you probably need to find out exactly what you owe and at what percentage of interest to figure out the best plan of attack. Then you could list out all your debts and see if you want to attack the smallest debt first or the one with the largest percentage of interest. At this point in the process, you need to think about yourself, really think about yourself, and determine what is actually going to work for you. Not what you want to work for you or what would work for fantasy you, but what is really going to work for actual you. And try to make it easy on yourself.

3. Focus on Actions

Now that you have your WHY and have deeply thought about things that will or won’t work to achieve your goal, it’s time to focus on the actions you need to take to achieve your goal and make those your goal. For example, let’s say you have a goal to personally create 240 new loans for your business over the next year. This sounds like a great goal. The only problem is, you have no control over whether 240 people will set up a loan with you.

You need a goal that you can control. You need to focus on actions that you can take. Instead of a goal of 240 loans over the year, you could set a goal of reaching out to five new dealers every month or calling 10 people every day or whatever actions you can do to bring in those loans. If you want to lose 30 pounds this year, don’t make that your goal. Make the actions that lead to losing 30 pounds your goal because that is what you have control of. Instead, your goal can be I’m going to drink 64 oz of water, eat one fruit and one vegetable, and move my body in some way for 30 minutes every day. These are actions that you have control over. And if you focus on the actions, the results will follow.

4. Keep it Small

Now, a word of caution. When you start focusing on the actions that you are going to take to achieve your goal, make sure you start small and build slowly over time. Let’s say you want to run a marathon in 2023. Please, please don’t go out and run five miles tomorrow when you haven’t run in over a year. And don’t say that you’re suddenly going to run every day. It’s better to plan to run/walk one mile three times a week. This means that you would run and take as many walking breaks as you need to complete one mile. Then, once you can run one mile without breaks, you would jump up to 1 ½ miles three times a week and so on. It doesn’t really matter exactly how you do it, the trick is to start small, slowly increase over time, and keep it manageable.

Going back to a goal I mentioned in the previous paragraph. The goal of drinking 64 oz of water, eating one fruit and one vegetable, and moving your body in some way for 30 minutes every day. Maybe the first month, you only focus on drinking 64 oz of water every day. Once that habit is established, then you add in eating a fruit every day. And build from there. Too many people jump into new actions that are too hard, too much, too different from their norm, and ultimately too unsustainable. Don’t be that person. Take it easy and keep it small.

5. Develop Systems

I think systems are the greatest. And, if you use them to your advantage, you will start to love them too. Systems could be the secret weapon to achieving your goals. But what exactly do I mean by systems? Systems can be hard to describe, so let’s jump into some examples. Say your goal is to save more for retirement this year. To achieve that goal, you hop onto your 401K’s website and increase the percentage that will be invested from your paycheck each month by 5%. Then you simply let the system do the work. If you do nothing else, you will have saved 5% more for retirement by the end of the year.

That was an easy example. What if we go back to our old goal of losing weight? There are actually several systems that you could use to help you. You could set an hourly reminder on your phone to drink water to help you reach 64 oz every day. Plus, you could get one of those huge water bottles with the levels marked off. You could also sign yourself up for fitness classes and set up a reminder on your phone reminding you of your WHY right before you need to get ready to go to it. You could also hire a fitness coach.

Another great system to use is to set aside a specific time and place for the action you want to take…and put a reminder in your phone (they are handy, little gadgets after all). Let’s say one of the actions you want to take is to review your spending once a week. You need to change that to say you want to review your spending every Saturday morning (specific time) at the kitchen table (specific place) while you eat breakfast.

Systems can be your best friends when it comes to achieving goals. Set up reminders, sign up for classes, set up automatic investing or saving, create specific times, get a coach, etc. Set yourself up for success using systems.

6. Habit Stacking

Another great way to set yourself up for success is by using habit stacking. Basically, attach a new action that you want to start doing to a habit that you already have. If your goal is to read more books this year and you already sit down for breakfast every morning, you could start reading a book during breakfast. Or perhaps you want to get fit and be more active, but you usually spend every evening watching TV. Maybe you could get on your treadmill or a stationary bike every night while you watch your shows or do push-ups during the ads. Do you drive to work every day? Start listening to a podcast that relates to your goal while you drive. Attach a 10-minute walk to your lunch break. Put your journal next to where you plug in your phone each night so you can pick it up and write in it every day. You get the picture. Find something that you do consistently and attach a new habit onto it.

7. Create the Right Environment

This step is huge! And so many people overlook it. If you want to reach your goals, then changing your environment to help you reach those goals is so important. If you want to stop smoking, don’t go on the smoking breaks with your friends. If you want to stop drinking, don’t go to the bar. If you want to eat healthier, don’t keep a bunch of treats on your desk or in your pantry.

That’s enough don’ts. Let’s focus on some Dos. If you want to get fit, keep healthy treats easily accessible and available. Put up inspirational photos around your house, in your pantry, on your computer, etc. Keep a lot of fitness podcasts on your phone and listen to them daily. Keep fitness equipment visible and accessible. I remember watching an episode of one of those extreme weight-loss shows, and the trainers took away the couple’s couch and replaced it with stationary bikes so that every time they wanted to watch TV, they’d have to be on a bike. Now that’s what I call creating an environment to help you succeed!

Conclusion

If you made it through this entire blog post, you’ve shown you have persistence. And with that kind of persistence and these seven amazing steps, you should definitely stick to your resolutions in 2023. Happy New Year and Cheers to your upcoming success!