A fresh start can lead to a new you. The key hinges on the power of developing strategies.
Darrel L. Hammon
Some years ago, in a meeting with other leaders, we discussed making resolutions and whether the practice was still in vogue. Interestingly, the discussion had just two sides: yes and no. One leader representing the negative stated: “No one makes resolutions anymore.” Another, representing the positive, stated: “We need to help people turn resolutions into reality.” I sided with the positive, and the following are six reasons why I believe we should develop and complete resolutions AND create strategies for turning them into reality.
- Resolutions are not passé.
A decade ago, CBS conducted a poll that basically stated that, “68 percent of Americans surveyed said they don’t make New Year’s resolutions—up 10 percentage points from two years ago.” While those percentages may have changed over the past 10 years, other research shows that making resolutions is still in vogue. Wharton School researchers Dai, Milkman and Ri called the idea of making resolutions the “fresh start effect,” concluding that many of the fresh starts began at the beginning of the year or at the beginning of “temporal landmarks” (See https://faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Dai_Fresh_Start_2014_Mgmt_Sci.pdf). These landmarks can be birthdays, marriage dates, the first of the year, or any time the person wants a fresh start. Perhaps, instead of naming them resolutions, we should call resolutions “fresh starts?”
- Resolutions propel us toward self-improvement.
Most of us want to improve our lives, one way or another. What we need to realize is making and completing resolutions help us improve our lives. During the leadership discussion, one participant mentioned that we should “accept the burden of self-improvement.” In a Forbes magazine article, Ashley Feinstein discussed some research Gail Matthews from Dominican University wrote about goal settings. Feinstein stated that, “Those who wrote down their goals accomplished significantly more than those who did not write down their goals. Making and keep resolution help improve our lives.” (See https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2014/04/08/why-you-should-be-writing-down-your-goals/.)
- Resolutions lead to intentionally planning our lives.
Throughout history, particularly in recent history, people believe they should live spontaneously. One of the leaders in the discussion called this spontaneity “accidental living,” just doing whatever comes up and not caring for what comes after, causing us not to worry about the potential consequences. This spontaneous living creates challenges and maybe even life-threatening actions. Usually somewhere along the way, people stop and confess that they have wasted their lives. Many then work hard in making the appropriate changes through creating goals and resolutions to change and then sticking to them. Making and completing resolutions leads to intentionally living well. We ultimately have the choice to do or not to do.
- Resolutions help us answer the question, “Where do I need to improve?”
Often in workplace annual assessments or evaluations, the question is asked: “Where do you think you need to improve?” Most good leaders know exactly where employees need to improve. They want us to be conscientious in acknowledging our short comings and/or our performance. Consequently, we create goals to improve our performance, develop strategies, and then work hard so our next performance evaluation is a stellar one. Additionally, we also ought to do a personal periodic review to propel us to determine what we need to improve our personal lives.
- Leaders make resolutions.
Great leaders make goals/resolutions, create objectives that are measurable, develop strategies to achieve the objectives, and then assess how they successfully or unsuccessfully completed their goals and objectives. Some years ago, the Holden Leadership Center at the University of Oregon wrote: “Goals help define your organization, give direction and avoid chaos” (see https://holden.uoregon.edu/leadership). Thus, leaders do not haphazardly follow a path. They know what they want and seek diligently in accomplishing their tasks..
- Resolutions do not allow status quo.
In reality, there is no such thing as status quo. Either you are progressing or retrogressing. Most of us—thankfully—have to be doing something that improves our lives. Making and completing resolutions propels us forward for the most part. Granted, some of us do not keep our goals. In the CBS Poll, only “three in 10 Americans say they usually make New Year’s resolutions—but only about half keep them.” The challenge for not completing hinges not making obtainable goals or making too many. In a recent Positive Psychology article titled “The Science & Psychology of Goal-Setting 101,” we learn that “[g]oal-setting in psychology is an essential tool for self-motivation and self-drivenness—both at personal and professional levels. It gives meaning to our actions and the purpose of achieving something higher” (https://positivepsychology.com/goal-setting-psychology/).
Into Action
The key to making goals and resolutions hinges on the power of developing strategies. For example, a goal statement of “I will read 10 books this year” is just that: a statement. A few questions must be asked, “How are you going to read 10 books?” Which ones? When will you read them? We develop a plan of action, i.e., create strategies, which allows us definitive guidance as to HOW we are going to accomplish our goals. All goals need strategies that guide us through our short-term and long-term goals.
Whether you call it setting goals, making New Year’s resolutions, creating lifestyle changes, or developing a fresh start, doing something to improve your life, health, attitude, eating habits, exercise, or spiritual being will eventually lead you to self-improvement. When we gang up on ourselves by making dozens of resolutions or changes in our life at the same time, we will melt into oblivion and pound ourselves for not accomplishing all of the tasks. The key is to take one step at a time so that our goals can really become part of our new reality!
Darrel L. Hammon has been dabbling in writing in a variety of genres since his college days, having published poetry, academic and personal articles/essays, a book titled Completing Graduate School Long Distance (Sage Publications), and a picture book, The Adventures of Bob the Bullfrog: Christmas Beneath a Frozen Lake (Outskirts Press). He also was the editor of the Journal of Adult Education (Mountain Plains Adult Education Association). Most of his essay/article writing has focused on topics about growing up, leadership, self-awareness, motivation, marriage/dating, and educational topics. Some of these articles/essays are in Spanish because Darrel is bilingual in Spanish/English, having lived in Chile, Dominican Republic, and southern California, and having worked with Latino youth and families all of his professional life in higher education. He has two blogs, one for personal writing at http://www.darrelhammon.blogspot.com/ and one for his consulting/life coaching business (http://www.hammonconsults.blogspot.com/).
