The Risk of Resolutions

Happy New Year to all! I hope 2018 is off to a good start. Around this time swirls talk of resolutions for the new year. Lots of folks say that resolutions keep them on track, and represent their goals. Other folks say, why bother, the resolutions are going to be broken anyway. (I think there’s a new Allstate commercial with the Mayhem character, and a title at the end that reads “Resolutions are made to be broken.”)

Whether you’re one for resolutions or not, how you structure your resolution affects your ability to keep it, and as a result, whether you stay motivated by them or leave them by the wayside. Make your resolution too general, and perhaps you meet it too easily and you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything. Make it too specific, and run the risk that if you don’t meet the goal, you don’t give yourself enough credit for what you did accomplish.

Make your resolution/goal specific enough so you know you’re making progress toward it, yet simultaneously make it general enough so you can continue to grow in that direction.

I’m curious, how have resolutions worked for you?

What are your thoughts?