According to a recent article from the Harvard Business Review, more than 40% of Americans set New Year’s resolutions each January, and reports indicate that more than 90% fail to follow through on them.
The problem with making resolutions for New Year is that often, there is not enough substance or structure that sits behind them. We can say that we want to do X or commit to do Y (and exercise may be one of those things) but changing ourselves is not an easy or quick thing to do – and resolutions can easily fall by the wayside if we do not take deliberate, focused and consistent action.
To achieve real behaviour change you need a mixture of the following:
· A real desire, and genuine motivation to make the change. This can be a ‘move towards’ goal or a ‘move away from’ goal.
· Knowledge of what you actually need to do to make it happen, and then breaking things down into manageable steps (otherwise the task is too big).
· Commitment to start, and to take action (which can often be the hardest thing).
· Support from people around you, from encouragement and ‘cheering on’ to accountability.
· Energy and resilience to keep the change going, especially when things feel difficult.
· Not to become disillusioned or dispirited when you may not see the benefits of the change as quickly as you’d like.
· Forming new habits and routines and discarding old ones.
When the benefits of continuing the new behaviour or habit outweigh the benefits of stopping, you know you have cracked it!
If you are serious about making changes to your life in 2024, whether personal, professional or both, my advice would be to seek out a qualified coach. I believe that everyone should have a coach!
Coaching is not counselling, therapy or even mentoring. A coach will work alongside you to help you understand what’s important to you, where you currently are, and the action needed to get to where you want to be. Not only that, a coach can ask the right questions, introduce tools to help you identify and prioritise changes, and hold you accountable to the actions you commit to.
For an introductory conversation about how coaching can help you, please get in touch and check out my range of coaching programmes here
In the meantime, I would like to wish all readers a Happy New Year!