Unlocking Your Potential

by Setting Realistic Resolutions

Many Americans will make New Year’s resolutions, but just as fast as they are made, many resolutions are broken. In fact, a mere 46% of Americans will be able to maintain their resolutions into the summer and only 8% of those who make resolutions report overall success. Not very promising statistics, so how can you insure your success for 2013 ?

Take a New Approach

Many people set themselves up for defeat because they fail to spend time thinking about what they really want out of life.  Let’s look at the Top 10 Resolutions set in 2012:

1. Lose Weight
2. Get Organized
3. Spend Less, Save More
4. Enjoy life to the fullest
5. Staying Fit/ Healthy
6. Learn Something Exciting
7. Quit Smoking
8. Help Others in Their Dreams
9. Fall in Love
10. Spend More time with Family

While all worthy pursuits, setting a resolution to fall in love?!? NOT VERY REALISTIC! So rather than set ambiguous resolutions, set realistic goals!

Realizing Your Potential

Finding success and unlocking your potential can be achieved through goal setting (aka Realistic Resolutions).  Setting goals gives you the vision and focus to stay motivated when times are tough.  So what now?  Start with setting some long-term or lifetime goals.  Think about all the aspects of your life that are a priority to you, use this list or create your own using categories that are important to you.

• Family- Are you a parent? Do you want to be? Are you a good parent? Do you have fulfilling relationships with your own family?
• Career- What do you want to achieve in your career? Do you have the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to achieve this?
• Education- Is their any knowledge or skills you would like to acquire? Do you need any particular knowledge or skills to be able to achieve goals in other areas?
• Financial- How much would you like to earn and by when? Are you in debt? Do you have a plan for your financial future?
• Health/ Wellness- Are there any health and wellness goals you would like to achieve? Are you in good health for your age? What steps are you willing to take to achieve better health and overall wellness?
• Giving Back- Do you want to improve your community or help others? How?
• Attitude- Are you your own worst enemy? Is your mindset holding you back? Is your behavior self-defeating?
• Enjoyment- Do you enjoy your life? Why or why not? What do you do for fun?

Spend some time reflecting on the areas above, think about the goals that you would like to accomplish. NOT what your partner wants, or your parents, or your boss. Spend this time deciding what you truly want, after all, you wouldn’t set out on a journey without having a destination.

This is a great place to start planning your success for 2013, tomorrow we will discuss how to set SMART goals so that you can increase your potential for success.

BE WELL!

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• 7 Steps to Creating Lasting Financial Resolutions (moneyning.com)
• Day Twenty Two and Twenty Three… Setting Effective Goals to Put You On a Path to Success (livmordivaslounge.blogspot.com)
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• Top 10 New Year’s resolutions: What to take up and give up in 2013 (metro.co.uk)
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