New Years "Resolutions" Reality Check

"Resolution", as defined as: a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

How are you doing? No, really. Search deep down and be honest with yourself. How are you doing? We are now at the second last week of January and being January 23rd, we're either onto new habits or back to the old ones. Research shows it takes 21 days to break a habit. Did you lose faith in yourself? Have you been focused on your strengths or weaknesses? Did you set realistic goals? Are they YOUR goals or mirror of someone else's? Did you develop a plan? Did you set up a reward system for yourself? Did you visualize them or "just go for it"? It's NOT too late. Dust yourself off and get back at it again. Set yourself up for a "win-win" because you deserve every happiness in the world. Do not wait for next year to make a resolution. Dig deep and the time for whatever you want to change is NOW. Tomorrow is never promised to us. Heck, the next hour isn't even promised to us. We can set out on our routine, walk out the door and "smack", get hit by a car. Dramatic effect? No, reality. We never know what course or direction our lives are meant to take but wouldn't you rather make every day worth the day that you want to live and make good habits? No more negative self-talk or doubt. Are you tired of the same patterns? Tired of talking yourself out of things "oh, I can't do this" or "I always suck at this" "I'll never change". Time to start talking yourself into it instead of out of it. Wouldn't you rather be proud of yourself? There is nothing wrong with being your own cheerleader.

Ok...now go get lined paper or open up your Microsoft Word doc. Really...go get it and let's commit by writing this down. Lock yourself up for at least 10 minutes of total solitude and no disruptions. Hide in the bathroom if you need to. Right now, YOU'RE important.

STEP 1.
The first step in breaking old habits is deciding what new habits you want to create with your life energy. Start asking yourself these questions:


* What do you want your life to look like?
* What habits do you need to eliminate?
* What positive habits do you need to develop to make your life look like you want it to look?

These desires must be realistic and obtainable. What is your intuition telling you about what you should be doing?

Listening to your intuition is one of the most intelligent things you can ever do with your life energy. Your intuition always guides you in the direction that is perfect for you. It is that small voice that is not affected by egos, past failures, or other people?s opinions. It is your inner guiding light.

In your journal, keep notes on what your intuition tells you about the strategies and the resources that might empower you.

STEP 2.
Crystallize your thinking. Determine what specific goals you want to achieve.


What habits are you letting go?

What habits are you creating in place of the old ones?

Your goals need to be specific, measurable, and realistic.

To do this you'll have to avoid  thinking like this: "I want to lose weight." What does that really mean? For your subconscious mind to be able to serve you it must receive very specific directions.

STEP 3.
Develop a sincere desire for the things you want.Desire is the starting point for all achievement. It's the greatest motivator of every human action.

Frequently, your mind is more motivated by pictures and visualization than it is with words and written exercises. The right side of your brain is where your creativity comes from, and it thrives on pictures. Many times the right side of your brain takes precedence over the left side, which thrives on words. In the past, you may have just written words down to reach your goals. Add this new dimension to your process.

Draw, cut out pictures, or take photographs of what you want in life. Put pictures up on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, on your smartphone, on your laptop, iPad, create a private photo album on Facebook or any place that will remind your subconscious mind of your desires to reinforce your goal.
Every thought you have uses electrical energy to imprint a new picture in your subconscious mind. The efforts of your subconscious mind are to match the pictures in your mind with reality.

The more you deliberately plant pictures of what you want, the faster you will attract it into your life. It's very important that you allow yourself to fantasize about what you want in your life - let your imagination run wild! This way, when you see the pictures so often, when you close your eyes you can see them. Create a reality.
To achieve what it is you want in life, you must think about it. There are no limits except those we put on ourselves. This is your life and you're only cheating yourself. You can tell people that you're succeeding at achieving your goal but if you're truly not...you're cheating and hurting yourself. No one else. You must feel your success before you can manifest it in reality.


STEP 4.
Develop a plan for achieving your goal, and a deadline for its attainment. The difference between a "wish" and a "goal" is that the goal is written down. Once you have a clear picture of what you want in life, your subconscious and conscious mind can work together to achieve it.


When you prioritize and focus you can literally see what you want; this gives you the power of concentration. Deliberate concentration is like a laser beam - it can cut through any obstacles in your path.


STEP 5.
Distinguish between goals and activities. A goal is the specific end result you want to manifest in your life. Activities are those things you do to achieve your goals.


Use the skill of awareness, and remember the goal. Don't get stuck in the activities.


STEP 6.
Create deadlines for your goals.
Without deadlines your brain doesn't have a clear picture of what you want created. Deadlines have a magical way of motivating us to produce results.


First write your *one-year* goals on paper, then write down all the activities you will have to do to reach each goal.


Start by asking yourself what is the very first activity I must do to get started on this goal? Then write down each following activity that will take you closer to the one year goal.

STEP 7.
Break down the activities for each goal into 3 month groups. Ask yourself "What are the activities I must do in the first three months to achieve my goal?" Write those down.

Then think about the activities you'll need to follow up in the following three months. By breaking down the goals into manageable, bite-size pieces, you'll feel more in control.

The secret is that this divide-and-conquer approach keeps achieving your goals from becoming overwhelmingly complicated.


STEP 8.
Make YOUR goals YOURS.

Time for a reality check. Don't set a goal for yourself that your spouse (or anyone else for that matter) wants for you. Revise your current goals to ensure they REALLY meet YOUR needs, not someone else's desires for you. You will never be successful achieving goals that are not motivated by your own desires. Moreover, don't compare your goals with other people's goals - you'll always come up short. The reality is that we usually compare our worst traits with someone else's best traits and we can never win that way.


Thanks for viewing! As always, have a great day and remember to "Empower yourself and inspire change in others" Wishing you much success in health, wealth and happiness.....