Make Your New Year’s Resolution Stick

The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they very seldom stick.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]: 

Hi I’m Paul Strobl, International Personal Coach for CEOs and Business Owners.

New Year’s Resolutions

The thing I want to talk about today is the elusive New Year’s resolution.  Why am I doing this before the New Year?  Well the main reason is that it’s important think about how you set the goal on the first place.

Now, I’m not talking about SMART goals– that it’s specific it’s measurable, that it’s achievable–I’m not talking about that stuff.  What I’m really talking about is motivation vs inspiration.

“Once your have inspiration, you don’t need motivation.” 

Inspiration vs. Motivation

Most clients come to me originally and say they want to be motivated toward a particular goal. Motivation, to me, is putting yourself through something unpleasant to get to some desired outcome. It doesn’t sound very nice, does it?

So what I try to do is to dig down deeper, and once we have explored things a little bit is finding what’s really important about the goal – the goal the goal may change – it’s really important to find out what the client’s inspiration is, and when inspiration is moved to the forefront, that person doesn’t need motivation anymore.

So inspiration is like the pull toward the thing that you want, and it’s really inspiring because it’s part of who you are and it’s in line with your goals and values–the things that you really want, so when you have an inspiring vision, it pulls you toward it.  And motivation is  kind of the push. It requires accountability and discipline and all these other things.

When Setting a Goal, Find Your Vision

So I challenge you to find an inspiring vision for the next year, and not just something like “I want to lose weight” or “I want to make more money”–there must be a really compelling reason within your being to want to get to the goal.

Now once you have the inspiring vision, the next thing is how to keep it conscious. It’s one thing to say you want the thing, but it’s another thing to keep the resolution in mind everyday.

Keep It Conscious

There’s all different kinds of ways to do this everybody’s a little bit different.  I’ve had clients who got a new tattoo for their vision they want to create, a new piece of jewelry, or putting a stuffed animal that they keep their computer desk so every time they use the computer they see it; you could use Google Calendar, you can use reminders–something that’s going to be in the way of your everyday life, so you can see it, stop, think about it, and make sure that it’s constantly there.

As long as you have something in place where it becomes a must, and you have that reminder that you hold the vision, and if it’s an inspiring vision, then it’s going to come true.

I Toast To You

So I’m here and the beautiful Rhodope mountains of Bulgaria, and I’m going to pour myself a glass of wine. I raise a toast to you for this next year, for you achieving your inspiring vision, that you hold yourself accountable for achieving it, and you maintain that vision every day.

If you want to let go of the sand bags that are weighing you down and truly live, go ahead and  book an appointment–there’s absolutely no charge for a consultation.  We’ll have a chat for about an hour and we’ll see if we fit for working together.

Nazdrave! (“Cheers” in Bulgarian)