Guest Blog Post - 3 Reasons New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work and What You Should Do Instead if You Want to Succeed in 2012 by B.C. Fleming

I periodically like to feature guest posts here on my blog. Today is another special! B.C. Fleming is an author and speaker who offers some valuable advice for the New Year! Enjoy!

3 Reasons New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work and

What You Should Do Instead if You Want to Succeed in 2012

By B.C. Fleming

Author and Speaker

In the military we are results oriented, period! And there is no excuse for not producing results. Nobody wants to be known as "that guy" who can't be counted on. I know very few, if any, successful people who take New Year’s resolutions seriously (and I’m blessed to know quite a few, actually). A great number of people who are successful at what they do are successful because they are results-focused and results-oriented, they don’t make excuses for failure, they are go-getters and stubborn in their commitment to not give up and stick with it and they don’t stake the success of their careers or personal lives on short-lived, “feel-good” marketing gimmicks that reappear once a year every January (not to sound harsh, but let’s be honest).

1. New Year’s resolutions are meant to be broken. They don’t work because nobody keeps them. People make their resolutions with the intention of receiving some sort of pleasure or reward and expect it to happen almost instantaneously. When it doesn’t come fast enough they give up. But I can tell you from personal experience that the desire to avoid imminent pain or discomfort will move more people in a given direction faster than any other force, even the promise of pleasure or reward. Most people, when it comes to their resolutions, focus only on what they want to happen. But you will take more consistent action when you have the daunting thoughts of the things you don’t want to happen in the forefront of your mind accompanying those things you do want.

2. New Year’s resolutions do more damage than goodbecause people don’t know how to properly set and actually achieve goals. Most people are half-hearted in their commitments to their New Year’s resolutions because they want the result without the work. Then they feel like failures when they choose to give up in a month or two because they’ve decided that what they thought they wanted isn’t worth the effort. Again, they beat themselves down mentally and feel like failures because they gave up and it’s back to square one.

3. People despise change. People instinctively try to avoid change instead of embracing it. People like their comfort zones and New Year’s resolutions require people to get out of those comfort zones and to stay out of them. Pursuing and reaching a New Year’s resolution typically involves a moderate to major change in a person’s daily lifestyle. Doing something different takes time to develop into a habit—roughly 3 weeks according to some experts. Drastic, sudden changes in personal lifestyle typically won’t last for any extended period of time because most people simply don’t want whatever it is they said they wanted badly enough.

B.C. FLEMING’S SOLUTION TO YOUR ANTI-NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION:

1. Make a list of 3 things you absolutely DO NOT want to have happen in your life this year (in the “resolution areas” as I call them—areas you’re looking to improve in). Underneath that list of things you don’t want to happen, make a sub-list of 3 simple, practical things you are going to do every single day in order to avoid having those things happen. At the end of the paper, write one short, simple phrase stating your ultimate goal or desire in doing these things—and be specific (seeing your end result written down is KEY)—and then write down a specific date as a deadline.

2. Make 3-5 copies of this short, simple list.

3. Tape these on your mirror, next to your toilet, in your car, on your refrigerator, on the backside of your front door—anywhere you will be forced to run into them and look at them on a daily basis. Then do the activities listed which will ultimately lead you to your goal. Success here is in keeping it simple and doable. 

4. Stay consistent! Truth is, if you want something badly enough and are willing to do whatever it takes and stick with it, you’ll get it. Remember… At the end of the day you have nobody to blame and your success is your own fault!

*To INSTANTLY download a FREE copy of “Fleming’s Ridiculously Simple Plan for Achieving Your Goals,” simply go to www.BlownUpGuy.com, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the yellow button that says “GOALS!”

Thanks to Audra at the B&B Media Group for providing this great article!