Every January the whole world comes alive as we start a new year with enthusiasm and hope. We tell ourselves that this year will be different. Goals will be achieved! This is the year that we straighten ourselves out and achieve all the things we’ve struggled to achieve all our lives. In fact the optimism is infectious and I wish I could bottle up the excitement to be re-injected later on when the things start to take abit longer than we anticipated. After a few years of starting the year with the SAME goal aka restarting a few goals each year, I decided it was time for change. New Year resolutions didn’t seem to be working for me. So is this what I decided to do instead of setting New Year’s resolutions every January. Once every 3 years, I set some big goals, really big scary goals. I couldn’t possibly show them to you – they are that scary. I write them down and pin them somewhere I can see daily. It’s never a long list, just goals covering the important areas of my life – personal well-being, family, business, finances etc. I literally then go through the business of achieving these goals without the stress of having to achieve them in 12month’s time.

We have a tendency to overestimate our abilities and underestimate the amount of time we’ll need to change or create the habits that will make us achieve our New Year resolutions. Resolutions take a lot of on going will power and it’s very difficult to change a pattern of behaviour especially one that we have unconsciously conditioned ourselves to live by. You cannot achieve a new goal without introducing a new habit or stopping an old self sabotaging one. Attempting to break a few of these habits at once is overly optimistic and very few people can set so many goals and have the will power to stick to them in all 12months of a year.

So, don’t set yourself up to fail. Don’t create a year long to-do list and call it New Year’s resolutions. Pick one goal to focus on and change in January. Then for each month of the year pick pick a new habit to change. You won’t always manage to change 12 habits every year but you’ll give yourself a better chance of changing some habit or improving them when you are only focused on one goal. No multi-tasking allowed here ladies.

So this January, knowing the power of a great network, why not decide this is the year when you take building your networking to its next level. Starting this January, why not identify 10 people within your community, business industry that you wish you knew better. Join a community like ours here at Forward Ladies and start meeting and nurturing those future relationships today. It takes time to get to know people and every longer to build trust. Why not start today?

So, what practices have you adopted to help you start and keep your resolutions on track this year?

Griselda