It’s time for me to issue my annual warning about New Year’s resolutions: Adopting a New Year’s resolution without first doing due diligence can be hazardous. It will likely result in failure, cause disappointment and embarrassment, and take a generous bite out of your self-esteem.
A big promise is a big challenge to keep
A New Year’s resolution is essentially a good intention with a holiday bow on it.
Like other good intentions, it’s a promise you make to yourself to do something in particular that you believe will make you a better person. But New Year’s resolutions typically involve BIG promises that are especially challenging to keep and therefore especially easy to break.
Comedian Joey Adams captured the sad truth about New Year’s resolutions when he offered this toast: “May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions!”
Ready. Set. Wait!
If you’re thinking about making a New Year’s resolution, hold your horses. It takes a lot more than an exciting idea to make a New Year’s resolution that you’re likely to stick with.
Before pulling the trigger, make sure that what you’re promising to do is not only worthwhile but is realistically doable. It’s a mistake to assume that adopting a New Year’s resolution is a matter of “There’s no harm in trying.”
There is harm in trying — if you fail.
No matter how valuable the change you’re promising to make would be if you actually made it, if you fail to make it, you’ll pay big-time for failing. And if recognizing that failing will cost you makes you think twice about adopting a resolution, good! You certainly should think twice!
Don’t adopt a New Year’s resolution without creating a follow through plan
It’s important to treat a New Year’s resolution the way you ideally should treat any other good intention: Consider it a solemn promise.
And recognize that to keep a solemn promise, you need to create a serious follow through plan that:
- acknowledges the obstacles you’re bound to face in keeping your promise, and
- identifies the particular follow through strategies you’ll employ to overcome those obstacles and make it to the finish line.
If you’re already enrolled in the Follow Through Master Program, you’ll find lots of practical help in positioning your New Year’s resolutions for success in our Guides & Tools, the Follow Through Strategies course, and the Follow Through Mindset course.
Wishing you a very happy New Year filled with pleasant surprises and follow through successes!