It’s a new year, and everyone is making resolutions and creating vision boards. All of these are positive actions and can help bring about change. Visualizing what you want to accomplish is the first step to making it happen. If you’re like me, you’ve probably made a million resolutions throughout your life, and you probably still have last year’s vision board hanging up somewhere.
However, it seems like many of us tend to fall off after a short time. I won’t lie to you; I didn’t do many of the things I said I would do last year. Life does sometimes get in the way of our plans, but often, it is the way we go about making our plans that causes the letdown. Changing how you set your goals or resolutions may help you stick to them.
Why New Year’s Resolutions and Vision Boards Don’t Always Work
Making New Year’s resolutions is an ancient practice that has religious roots. The tradition began with The Romans making promises to their gods at the start of every year. It eventually evolved into what we know now by the 19th century. By the end of The Great Depression, making resolutions was standard practice. Typical resolutions are usually to live healthier, improve finances, stop drinking, stop smoking, travel more, get better organized, and more.
Vision board parties are all the rage at this time of year. We get together with our cork or poster boards and go to town, cutting out pictures and words representing the things we want. Most people’s boards are filled with photos of physically fit people, nice cars, big houses, money, and other things we desire. We do this hoping that seeing our desires will motivate us to go get them.
The success rate for resolutions and vision boards isn’t usually that great.
Some reasons cited for the low success rate are unrealistic goals, not tracking progress, making too many resolutions, or forgetting about them altogether. Basically, we have lofty goals but no real plan of action to go with them, resulting in unmet goals.
So, What Do We Do Instead?
A study was conducted where a group of students were split into two groups. One group was encouraged to visualize themselves getting a good grade on a test. The other group was encouraged to visualize themselves studying. The group that visualized themselves getting a good grade performed poorly compared to the other group. The study supports the theory that being proactive versus simply manifesting the goal is more effective. Simply wanting something and manifesting it is not enough. You do your part and put in the work, as well.
When planning your goals for the year, it is essential to focus not only on the outcome but the process needed to get there. Losing weight is a goal that a lot of people have. Instead of cutting out photos of physically fit people or the beach because you want to wear a bikini this summer, try focusing more on the steps to get there. Plan your weekly workouts, create the eating plan you’re going to follow, and write down your hydration schedule. If your goal is to purchase a home this year, your goals should be to set your budget, select the area you want to live in, find a realtor, or start downsizing your current space.
Things to Consider
Don’t be discouraged, though. It is still a good idea to write down your goals, resolutions, and the things you visualize for yourself. When doing that, consider these things:
Set Realistic Goals: It is important to have self-awareness and to set goals that make sense for you. Setting a goal to go on a strict diet and work out seven days a week is extreme for most people, and you would be setting yourself up for failure before you start. If three times a week makes more sense for your life, then that’s the goal. If you happen to do five or six days instead, you exceed your goal.
Surround Yourself with Positivity: Your environment can influence your ability to be successful. Being around people who uplift and encourage you on your journey is important. If someone tells you you can’t do something, get rid of them. Also, be mindful of the entertainment you consume, which goes for movies, music, and social media. Feed your mind positivity.
Celebrate Small Accomplishments: Often, we forget to give ourselves the praise we deserve for the small victories on the way to the finish line. If your goal is to write a book, it’s an accomplishment when you’ve written the first few chapters. And it’s okay to pat yourself on the back for that. Those small celebrations help to propel you forward.
Believe In Yourself: Believing in yourself is the most vital part of achieving anything. You have to believe you can accomplish your goals before anyone else. You also have to believe you are worthy of your desired success. And trust me, you definitely are!
Happy New Year!
I’m sharing this post with my vision board group so we can focus in on the steps to getting where we want to go and tune our minds for the best possible vision board experienc! thanks!