Though the tradition of the New Year's resolution may be a little cliché, personal growth is something we should be striving for throughout our entire lives. But what's the secret to sticking to a resolution? We set out as flies on the proverbial wall to learn what some successful people do to set goals and stick to them.
3 Ways to Keep Your 2018 Resolutions
Write It Down
Whether your goal is to complete your homework early or start a business, it’s a good strategy to write it out. People who regularly write out their goals are 42% more likely to accomplish them and one Harvard study showed that, after ten years, the 3% of participants who wrote out their goals earned 10 times more than the rest of the participants combined.
Why it works:
When we write down a goal, we’ve given ourselves a result on which to focus. Shifting into a results-driven focus is, essentially, hacking our motivation biology by triggering a reward response before we’ve reached success.
Set a Theme
Or pick a word for 2018. You’ll find both strategies in entrepreneurial circles and, what’s more, you’ll find them repeated year after year. If someone chooses the word “efficiency,” for example, they may step back periodically to consider how their choices this week/month/day fall in line with that theme.
Why it works:
It’s likely that you can’t even remember what your resolutions were for 2017...by choosing a single idea you sharpen your focus to a single point. Everyone can remember one word, right?
Make Space
Marie Kondō put it best when she wrote, “The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.” The famous organization authoress maintains that it's difficult to grow as people if we adamantly hold on to objects from the past. Beyond that bit of philosophy, clutter is simply distracting.
Why it works:
When your environment is a mess, that mess competes for neural representation, limiting your brain’s ability to process information. It’s difficult to achieve a goal if your brain isn’t functioning at 100%.
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Category: General , Student Life
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