It’s that time of year again. A New Year. The perfect opportunity to set goals and targets for change. We know it’s Tuesday 3 January… but it’s not too late to make a New Year resolution.
You may (or may not) be surprised to hear that learning something new commonly features in peoples’ Top Ten New Year resolutions alongside spending more time with family and friends, quitting smoking and losing weight/getting fit.
As trainers we do, of course, advocate lifelong learning as part of personal and professional development and think that New Year resolutions are a good opportunity to kick-start new learning.
So, if learning something new is on your list this year we hope these top tips for New Year resolution success will help you achieve your personal goals.
It’s first necessary, though, to think about why New Year resolutions fail to give us some insight into how we can boost our own chances of success this year.
The most common reasons why New Year resolutions fail include:
- resolutions being too ambitious and/or unrealistic
- resolutions being made on impulse and therefore not thought through
- lack of commitment and a tendency to give up at the first hurdle
- waning motivation
- unhelpful friends
- people not being ready to change their habits
How to make your New Year resolutions work
Resolutions are too ambitious and/or unrealistic
Focus on one resolution at a time. Set a specific, realistic goal (eg a generic resolution to learn new things is not a specific goal, whereas learning how to conduct a security survey by the end of June would be). One way to help yourself set goals is to use the SMART model, which recommends that targets should be Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.
Take small steps. Many people quit because the goal is too big to achieve all at once. There’s nothing wrong with setting your sights high, but you may need to break your dream down into bite-size chunks to achieve it (eg if your ultimate aim is to do a Masters degree you may need to complete other qualifications beforehand in order to reach this goal.
Resolutions are made on impulse and therefore not thought through
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can change today.
Develop an action plan with milestones representing small steps towards your goal(s).
Lack of commitment and a tendency to give up at the first hurdle
Make it happen! Sign up for a course. Commit yourself: tell people what you’re aiming to achieve as this will motivate you to achieve it so that you can update people with good news as you progress towards your goal(s).
If at first you don’t succeed, try again and learn from why it didn’t work the last time.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. Have fun and laugh at yourself when you slip, but don’t let the slip hold you back from working towards your goal.
Waning motivation
Celebrate your success between milestones to keep motivation high.
Focus on the present. What;s the one thing you can do today, right now, towards your goal(s)?
Monitor progress: this means that if you feel you have an off-day/off week you can look back at your overall success so far and re-motivate yourself.
Be aware of when motivation might dip. The first two weeks after a resolution usually go well. However, there’s a tendency to backslide as February approaches.
Being aware of this potential hurdle – and taking extra steps to stay on track at this time – will help you achieve longer term success.
Unhelpful friends
Don’t rely on willpower alone. Be accountable: nominate someone close to you that you have to report progress to.
Surround yourself with support (eg by joining a training course you are learning with others). Ensure you have accessible tutors, and know where the best resources are to be found.
People are not ready to change their habits
Focus your thinking on changing behaviour and thought patterns. You have to create new neural pathways in your brain to change habits.
Find a mentor – identify someone who is where you want to be and see if they can give you tips when reaching your goal(s) seems hard/ impossible.
Of course, combining tips will help maximise your success. Research by analysts at the University of Hertfordshire found that people who broke their goal(s) into smaller steps and rewarded themselves when they achieved one of these tended to keep their resolutions.
People who combined this strategy with telling their friends about their goals, focusing on the benefits of success and keeping a diary of progress were even more likely to succeed.
The bottom line on resolutions
New Year resolutions are a great way to kick-start a change. However, they can be hard to achieve if they’re overly ambitious, unrealistic and generated on impulse.
With some careful thought and planning, however, New Year resolutions can be a great vehicle for personal and professional development. We wish you all the best with yours for 2012.
Ken Livingstone (managing director) and Amy Burrell (training consultant) are with Perpetuity Training
Further information about… Perpetuity Training
Perpetuity Training offers a range of short courses, including Level 4 professional awards in Managing Security Surveys and Security Management.
All of the company’s short courses can be adapted to meet the needs of individual businesses. Bespoke training services are also available.
Perpetuity Training is proud to be associated with The Security Institute and to be the provider of the Institute’s two membership qualifications: the Certificate in Security Management (Level 3 Advanced Certificate) and the Diploma in Security Management (Level 5 Professional Diploma).
For more details telephone 0116-222 5550 or e-mail: training@perpetuitygroup.com