Resist a New Years Resolution and Pick a Theme Instead

With the New Year creeping up on us, you’re probably beginning to reflect on resolutions. But as far as I’m concerned, resolutions are just prescriptions for failure and self-flagellation. Why focus on the negative by declaring that you want to quit smoking, lose weight or break a bad habit? Instead, choose a positive theme for the year and back it up with action.

In years past, my themes have included, “Commit to excellence,” “Be a bold-risk-taker,” and “Find the fun and adventure.” Backed up with specific goals, these themes have resulted in several international trips, reinventing my speaking program and even falling in love.

This year my theme is “Personal Accountability.” As a coach working with people on professional and personal development, I hold my clients accountable to taking continuous action toward their goals. This year, because I want this to be my Best Year Ever, especially in business, I’m going to make sure I do the same for me. To stay focused, I’m going to limit my goal-setting to a couple of major initiatives, then hold myself accountable to seeing them through to success.

So, instead of your usual resolutions, here’s what I want you to do. Pick your theme for the year. It could be “Take care of me,” “Make time for friends and family,” “Be big, bold and brave,” or whatever is important to you. Then pick two action goals that address your theme. If you want, you can pick a professional and a personal goal that back up your New Year’s theme. Professional goals might include finding a new job or building your business, while personal goals could include starting a weight loss program or learning to dance salsa.

Now, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you passionate about your goals? And if passion is too strong a word for rewriting your resume, do you care deeply about your goal? Is it significant to you?

2. Are you goals within your power to accomplish? That is, can you take all necessary action steps or does accomplishing your goal depend on someone else? For example, you can determine a goal of writing a book, but setting out to write bestseller isn’t really within your control.

3. Can you measure your success? While it’s nice to set a goal of being a great boss, unless you can measure it, it doesn’t do you much good. Drill down and set some specific benchmarks or measurable outcomes.

4. Do my goals address my theme for the year?
If you’ve said “No” to any of these questions, go back and reframe your goals or set new ones entirely.

In my new Jumpstart Success System tele-course, which begins in January, I’ll guide people through the process of picking a theme to set the tone for the year, then setting action-oriented goals that are meaningful and measurable. I’ll also teach participants a specific system for holding themselves accountable to taking powerful action and staying the course despite snags, setbacks and obstacles.

Because wouldn’t it be nice to get to January ’09 and look back at 2008 as the year that you actually lived your theme, accomplished your goals and loved your life?

Libby Gill is a personal and professional development expert, columnist, and host of “Get Over It” on KarmaAir. Libby welcomes comments and questions at AskLibby@LibbyGill.com.