menu

close

New Year’s Resolutions

Every year millions of people make New Year’s resolutions, hoping to spark change in their lives. Setting goals is one thing, but how do you ensure you follow through?

Chances are more than a couple of these top 10 resolutions will be on your list for 2022:

  • Exercise more
  • Eat healthier
  • Lose weight
  • Get organized
  • Learn a new skill or hobby
  • Save money
  • Quit smoking
  • Spend more time with family and friends
  • Travel more
  • Read more

When you set goals for yourself in 2022, it can’t be all about business. The true goal that most people want is to live a fulfilling life. To do that, you must take a holistic approach to goal setting make progress in all areas of your life. A few weeks ago, I blogged about “Holistic Goal Setting for 2022” and I discussed taking stock of where you are in six areas of your life, to make sure you take a well-rounded approach to goal setting.

But setting goals is one thing. How do you follow through? A recent study by the journal of Clinical Psychology said that only 46% of people who made New Year’s resolutions were successful. That means over half of the people who set a goal for the new year won’t follow through! The study also involved “non-resolvers” (people who did NOT make resolutions but who said they had a goal they wanted to achieve). Only 4% of non-resolvers were successful in achieving their goal.

What should you take from this study? It is important to have New Year’s resolutions. You may only achieve them 46% of the time, but that is far better than 4%.

Here are a few suggestions to help you achieve your New Year’s resolutions this year:

1

Prioritize your goals

Which goals motivate you the most? They must be important to YOU (not to others) or they won’t inspire you. What are your top priorities this year? You can’t do everything, so if you had to pick 1-2 goals to start with, which ones would they be?

2

Break each goal into smaller goals

A lot of us have the best of intentions and may accidentally pick a goal that is too big to achieve. This will only serve to demotivate you. If you have a big goal (let’s say to lose 30 pounds) then break that down into smaller goals like I will go for a 30-minute walk every morning and eat a healthy breakfast. Once that small goal becomes a habit, then add the next small goal such as packing a healthy lunch every day instead of eating out. Achieving little goals will get you to your big goal without it seeming overwhelming.

3

Share your resolutions with others

If you are committed to doing something this year, tell your friends and family. Making a public announcement about your goal will add a sense of guilt if you don’t follow-through. Guilt is a powerful motivator.

4

Put your goals on a vision board, so you see it every day

When we constantly look at our goals it reminds us of what is important, and it helps you stay on track. Take a picture of your goal and put it in a prominent place in your life, so you see it every day. When you are having a bad day, look at your vision board to remind you of why you are doing the tough stuff.

IF YOU SAY YES TO THESE, WHAT WILL YOU SAY NO TO?

This is a critically important question. We can’t do everything. Every time you add something new to your life, you must be willing to let something else go. As you look ahead to 2022, the idea of adding more goals seems exciting but also daunting. You likely already have too much to do, too many goals and too many unfinished projects. Taking on new projects will be futile unless you are willing to let something else go.

Take a hard look at how you spend your time to see what you can eliminate (or at least reduce) in your schedule.

  • Delegate something at work that someone else could do better than you. Most successful people have control issues, and we think it is easier for us to do a task ourselves rather than delegate it to someone else. There are certain things that others can do better. You can’t make a six-figure income doing $15/hour work.
  • Look for ways to streamline tasks outside of work. We often do things because we have a sense of obligation, but they are false obligations. You can save so much time if you order your groceries online, or you hire a landscaper rather than cutting the lawn yourself, or you hire a cleaning service rather than spending your Saturday cleaning the house. Every hour you save on these tasks frees up an hour that you can dedicate to achieving your goals.
  • Become stronger at qualifying your clients. There are different quality clients. Some are committed, others are interested. We often donate our time to those who are only interested and not truly committed. We are then disappointed when it takes too long to close, or they don’t close at all. We are so happy to DO the work that we don’t qualify hard enough to make sure it is the right opportunity. Simply put…when you don’t have any clients, you’ll work with anyone. When you have an abundance of opportunities, you become more selective. The best thing you can do for your business is book an hour of prospecting every day to keep your pipeline full.
  • Hang out with the eagles. Who you hang around with has a big impact on your attitude toward success. In every real estate office there is a group of negative agents who can tell you what’s wrong with a sunny day. Hang around with people who are more successful than you and you will rise to the company you keep.

Pick 1-2 of your top goals for 2022 based on what motivates you the most. Break those goals into smaller bite-size goals that you can start working on right away in January. Celebrate achieving each smaller goal to stay motivated.

If you want more information how to make 2022 your best year ever, please visit https://leadersedgetraining.com/agent-virtual-training/.

Chris Leader
President
Leader’s Edge Training

Back to All Posts