Why do we fail the goals we set in January? New goals get realized when a person learns to build new systems and rules, not just write things down.
Why do we fail the goals we set in January?
Lots of people set new goals for the year right at the start of it, wanting to change something in their life over the next 12 months.
But after just a few weeks (or months), a person starts to realize that, despite their initial resolve, they’ve slipped back into their usual rhythm of life.
The daily grind and current problems have filled their schedule and attention again.
As the saying goes: “it’s not hard to start with a clean slate — it’s hard to change your handwriting.”
New goals and decisions often don’t get realized because the person keeps living their usual life. Their habits and life infrastructure don’t change in any meaningful way. They just have their new goals for the coming year written down somewhere on paper or on a computer — goals that, come December, will mostly end up unmet.
For a large percentage of people, this yearly ritual of reviewing failed goals in December leads them to give up on planning altogether, just to avoid facing that disappointment again.
New goals and a new vision get realized when a person learns to build new systems and rules that actually support achieving those goals.
That’s the situation where goals aren’t just written on paper — the person has built habits and a new way of living that supports getting what they want.
Something as simple as putting your running shoes in plain sight in your apartment is a change to your everyday life infrastructure.
When someone puts a big glass of water next to the water cooler, their eyes catch it more often, and they end up drinking more water.
When we put the right phrase or reminder on our phone’s lock screen, that’s something that works for us all the time.
When we prepay a tutor for 10 English lessons in advance, we’re very likely to actually attend them.
When we put a monthly reminder in our calendar to review our plans, we get 12 touchpoints with our goal list — instead of just one disappointment in December at the end of the year.
Simple, obvious things like these are real movement toward a better quality of life and toward achieving the goals we set for ourselves.
Did you set any new goals for yourself this year?