All this month we’ve been discussing the six big lies that mislead and derail us on our path to achieving big results. If you’ve been following along you may have noticed that these lessons apply to all types of goal setting in both your work and personal life. Now that we’re approaching the end of January, it’s the perfect time to give your goals a boost by taking a look at how the six lies apply to your New Year’s resolutions.
Lie #1: Everything Matters Equally
The very act of making resolutions signifies that all things are not equal. Resolutions are supposed to be the most important things that we want to achieve based on our top priorities. Too often people lose sight of that, and though their intentions are good, they make too many resolutions. The result is none of the resolutions get enough focus.
Lie Lesson: Limit the number of resolutions you make to just the top one or two goals you want to accomplish.
Lie #2: Multitasking
Ending the multitasking madness could be a resolution in and of itself. It was once thought that people could multitask to get more done during their busy day. It turns out that while we are capable of doing two things at once, we can’t do either one well. Worse still, it actually takes longer to do things when we multitask.
Lie Lesson: Ensure your resolutions get 100 percent of your attention. Ditch all the distractors when you’re working on them, even if that means shutting down your phone and isolating yourself from others.
Lie #3: A Disciplined Life
At the start of the year, resolutions seem like a daunting task that will take huge amounts of discipline to make happen. Some people never even try because they think they don’t have enough discipline to reach their goals. Fortunately, being completely “disciplined” isn’t necessary. You just need to know how to manage and direct the discipline you do have to achieve big results.
Lie Lesson: Discipline doesn’t make goals happen, good habits do. Decide what good habit will help you accomplish your resolution and direct your discipline toward making the habit automatic. Once the habit is created it requires almost no discipline to maintain. The 66-Day Challenge was designed to help people channel their discipline for the average length of time that it takes to create a habit.
Lie #4: Willpower is Always on Will-Call
You know the saying “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”, but what happens when your willpower is nowhere to be found? The popular proverb never states that willpower is always on standby ready to be used. It only states that when you use your will, you’ll find a way. In reality, willpower is a limited resource that you have to use wisely and continue to renew.
Lie Lesson: Use the 4-1-1 form to plot out what needs to happen each week and each month during the year to reach your resolution goals. From there you will know what your willpower needs to be reserved for and when to act so that resolution tasks are completed when willpower is at its highest.
Lie #5: A Balanced Life
Perfectly balancing your work and personal life sounds like an amazing resolution. The only problem is it’s impossible. For one, they are two separate worlds that require juggling acts all of their own. Secondly, riding that “balanced” middle line will mean that nothing noteworthy gets accomplished in your work or your personal life. Sometimes the scale has to tip to one extreme, and as long as you know when to right it, being out of balance will be just fine.
Lie Lesson: Forget about trying to keep everything balanced, and instead chart out a counterbalancing plan. Use your resolutions to figure out what needs the majority of your attention and what can be put on the backburner. This will give you the leverage needed to give your top priorities the most focus.
Lie #6: Big is Bad
Small is often considered to be safe, so it’s no surprise that many people don’t go too big with their goals. It is important to be realistic with your resolutions, but that doesn’t mean you have to sell yourself short by keeping things small. Think big and your actions will follow suit.
Lie Lesson: You’ll need to create an action plan composed of smaller steps and milestones that build off one another, but don’t be afraid to go big with your overall resolution. Even if it will take years to attain, there’s no reason you can’t start working toward something big this year.
What resolutions are you working toward accomplishing this year?
Original source: http://www.the1thing.com/applying-the-one-thing/using-the-6-lies-for-your-new-years-resolutions/