By this time, more than 25{db95e0fd77ae6d141d4535e2bf7b464d98e4151322120f553d7786be9a7303be} of New Years Resolutions have been broken.

Are you in that number?

If so, don’t feel guilty. The way that New Year’s Resolutions are traditionally approached sets even the most determined individuals up for failure.

According to experts, resolutions fail for a few reasons:

We don’t leave room for mistakes.

Most resolutions sounds something like this…

“I’m going to go to lose 25 pounds. To do this, I’ll go the gym 4 times a week for the rest of the year.”

There is a goal and there is a process. However, life is often not as simple as we would like it to be. Before the end of January, you may get the flu or a work schedule might change, causing a disruption in the “4 times a week promise”. Once you feel that you have broken your promise and let yourself (or someone else) down, you may get discouraged and feel like giving up.

“Oh, forget it. What’s the point?”

Does that sound familiar? So often, resolutions are made with this all-or-nothing attitude that leaves no room for circumstances out of our control. Instead of seeing the benefits of our efforts, we see these missed appointments as “falling short”. This attitude often leads us to give up on the whole endeavor.

We have unrealistic expectations.

There is an interesting cycle that takes place every year.

January 1st comes. We excitedly set up resolutions for a fresh start! However, sometime during the first 6 months, 50{db95e0fd77ae6d141d4535e2bf7b464d98e4151322120f553d7786be9a7303be} of our resolutions will be given up on or forgotten. We then continue the rest of our year as we did the year before. That is, until December 31st rolls around. Then we start all over with a new resolution. We do this year after year, always expecting a different outcome.

Why do we keep making resolutions every year? Even the biggest resolution cynic will admit that they feel the urge to set up at least a small personal goal at the beginning of the new year.

According to psychologists, this is called False Hope Syndrome.

“Despite repeated failure…people make frequent attempts at self-change. ‘False hope syndrome’ is characterized by unrealistic expectations about the likely speed, amount, ease, and consequences of self-change attempts.”

At first, this may sound quite disheartening. False hope syndrome? It makes it sound like we have no chance at all for self-improvement!

The reality of this “syndrome” is not that we cannot change, but rather, that we have unrealistic expectations about how fast, how difficult, or how drastic the change will be.

The lesson is not that we should give up our attempts to make positive changes; the lesson is that we need to set some realistic expectations about the results.

The biggest reason that we fail at our resolutions is that we set ourselves up for failure at the very beginning.

We are inflexible in our methods.

Let’s say your goal is losing 25 pounds. There are a few ways to go about doing this. One option could be packing healthier lunches and eating out only on the weekends.

But, what happens when you find out your current work schedule doesn’t leave you much time for cooking and meal prep? Maybe your job requires you to take clients out for meals on a regular basis. Maybe you just really hate eating broccoli 3 days in a row.

But remember, there are other methods of weight loss. You could try a nutritionist or even a workout program.

Unfortunately, most of us give up instead of looking for these alternatives. When one method doesn’t work we often give up on the entire goal. Herein lies the biggest problem with goal achievement today.

New Year’s Resolutions are healthy. It is good to challenge yourself and make positive goals. In fact, these types of goals are absolutely vital for business survival. However, the traditional, unrealistic, inflexible route will be unable to get you to those goals.

So how can we make our New Year’s plans stick?

We recommend breaking it down into bite sized pieces.

Instead of a year long plan of action, we recommend breaking the plan down into 90 day periods. Not only is this a more manageable amount of time to commit to a new action plan, but it will allow for a resilient flexibility that is crucial for long-term vitality.

The 90 Day New Year’s Resolution Solution

Set a realistic goal for the year

Don’t stay where you are. There is always some way we can grow in our businesses and in our personal lives.

Was 2016 a successful year? That’s great! However, that doesn’t mean you can stop. If you sit on the success of the past year and don’t up performance, you will find yourself behind the pack by the end of the year. The competition keeps moving and new competition is introduced all the time. If you stop now, they will not only catch up, but leave you behind.

At the same time, set a goal that can be realistically attained with a realistic deadline. If you’re having trouble setting up these goals, you may want to consider investing in Joe’s Priority Management System. This unique system will give you the security and assurance of reaching goals that will take your business and personal life to the next level.

Set-up a process and procedure for how to achieve this goal

Just as there are many different ways to lose weight, there are many different ways to do business and capture leads. Sit down and choose a method that you think may work best for your business.

Commit to stick with this plan for 90-days. Be sure to make the most of each activity.

For example, if you decided to join a chamber of commerce to gain leads, make sure you’re not just attending a few meetings. Attend all the meetings. Set up one-on-one appointments with members outside of chamber meetings. Get involved with specialized groups. Be the speaker at a few events or lunch-and-learns.

By making the most of the activities, you will begin to see very quickly if this course of action is giving you a return on investment that will get you to your year end goal.

Be willing to make changes

At the end of 90 days, take stock of your progress. Have the activities you initially chose showing positive results?

If not, maybe it’s time to change focus to another area of activity.

With all the changes in technology on a seemingly daily basis, there are lots of things that take change and develop over 90 days. Is there a new software that might make doing business more streamline? Is there a social media platform that is funneling leads on which you need to focus more attention?

There are also things that happen with the economy and government policies that may need to be addressed. Are there new policies needing to be set into place for your business and your employees?

Personal life changes should also be taken into consideration. Life events will effect your business, whether you adjust for them or not. The best way to ensure goal achievement is by addressing these changes right away.