It has become a tradition to invite the New Year into our life by making plans for the future and setting resolutions. By the way, have you ever wondered why the goals that we set on the 31st of December are called “resolutions” and not, for example, “objectives”?

It is because we attempt to “re-solve” the same problems, reform the same bad habits and strive for the same ol’ goals that we set for ourselves in 2011, and the year before that, and the year before that?

Wouldn’t it be great to kick-start this year with a NEW kind of resolution that will be fun to pursue, easy to stick with and more enjoyable to accomplish, so that by the end of 2012, we will be able to look back with a renewed sense of accomplishment and pride?

If you do not feel like laundry listing the same over-achieving New Year’s Re-solutions you tried to achieve last year, why not choose a different approach that goes beyond traditional Goal Setting?

This is exactly what I intend to do – no ordinary goals and only 7 Uncommon New Year’s Resolutions to make 2012 one of the most fruitful, productive and satisfying years ever:

New Year’s Resolution #1: Learn one new thing about something

Usually right after New Year we have a few free days before we need to go back to work. Use this time to research your goals and learn more about them.

Think of skills that you would like to acquire, of experiences you long to have, of a place you would love to visit, of all the little and big things that you wish you did better.

What is the crucial piece of knowledge that you are missing? The more you educate yourself, the more prepared you will be to overcome possible challenges that you might run into when pursuing your goal.

If you have decided to start jogging in the morning, look for jogging advice for beginners, develop an optimal type of training for yourself, join a jogging group in the city where you live, find out what the common problems are that people who are new to jogging have and for the possible solutions to these problems. Bottom line – do not jump into your resolutions. Give yourself time to build excitement, motivation and knowledge!

New Year’s Resolution #2: Develop or eliminate one habit

When we think about how we can improve our life, several things usually come to mind – our health, productivity, career, getting out of debt, etc. But when we try to keep up with all the resolutions that we have set for ourselves, one by one, we end up giving up on all of them.

Instead if we just focus on one habit for at least 30-45 days, by the end of the year we may completely transform our body, start a new venture, pay off our credit card debt or become great at something we never thought we could do.

Do not spread yourself too thin! Think of the one habit that has been the biggest source of your frustration? Or what would be the one habit that would noticeably improve your life?
Start there! Other resolutions can wait a month.

New Year’s Resolution #3: Practice being patient

This is the one resolution I feel I need the most. A part of me secretly hopes that change can happen overnight and a few times in my life I have had startling revelations that in a matter of seconds have completely transformed the way I thought about something. But then I also know that it took me months and sometimes years to digest, apply, consolidate and make these changes part of my everyday life.

If you sometimes find yourself frustrated because you do not see immediate results of your actions, take a few deep breaths and remind yourself that waiting and doing things slowly is much more gratifying, rewarding and successful than receiving them as if with a wave of a magic wand.
Be patient.

New Year’s Resolution #4: Maintain relationships

Christmas and New Year are two great holidays to get in touch and catch up with friends, relatives and clients that you have not seen for a long time. Use the month of January to revive and maintain relationships with the positive people in your life. Ask how their holidays went, add them on Facebook or Skype, offer to grab lunch together or invite them to your house for dinner.
Here are some great ideas on how to make new friends and not to lose the old ones.

New Year’s Resolution #5: Do something bold and memorable

One of the ways to kick start your year is to do something you have never done before, something bold, something exciting, something that your friends and family would not expect you to do. It does not have to be as extreme as going bungee-jumping, or as drastic as moving abroad for a few years (although if it sounds like something you would like to do, go for it).

The point here is to step out of your current zone of comfort and break free from your everyday routine. Because when you do the same things day in and day out, your actions become habitual, your experiences limited and your thinking inflexible.

Of course, stepping out of your comfort zone may be challenging, but it becomes easier with practice. I promise!

New Year’s Resolution #6: Start healthy

Even if you have gained a few pounds over the holidays, feeling guilty about it today accomplishes nothing. Begin your year by making conscious choices that will allow you to stay healthy, increase your energy levels, and keep your mind sharp.

There are plenty of small doable and repeatable steps that we can take to improve our physical shape and well-being. For example, my health resolution for this month is to stop drinking cold water with my meals. What is yours? What can you do to start this year healthy?

New Year Resolution #7: Rise above the little things

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to leave everything unneeded, unwanted, unnecessary and unimportant behind. To de-clutter your days from such time-wasters as mindless TV watching, internet browsing, window shopping. To throw or give away old things that have accumulated in your house over the years. To free yourself from the emotional clutter, forgiving those who might have hurt you in the past.

Let the old year take away all the offences, doubts, insecurities and worries. Make room for new exciting experiences, best friends, spiritual growth and your heart-yearned dreams!

Promise yourself that this year will be the best one ever!

Have you already set New Year’s Resolutions for 2012? What are they?

“One reason why people don’t achieve their goals is because they don’t know what part of them choose the goal.” ~ John Kehoe

Let me tell you a little story…

“A man took a ladder, put it next to a wall and started climbing. He climbed as fast as he could. His legs were constantly slipping, a few times he almost fell. Yet he kept on climbing… When his physical exhaustion started to take over, his hand finally reached the top of the wall. Regaining his strength, he made the last effort to push himself up and sit down. But as he looked around, his smile faded and a paralyzing thought crept in to his soul, “It is the wrong wall!”

Similar, we often choose to pursue a goal that we think we want and spend weeks, months, and even years accomplishing it. But after the initial excitement wears off, we are left feeling strangely empty, tired and disoriented, because we realize that our accomplishments have not made us any happier.

It is hard to explain why we spend so much time in learning all the goal setting how-to’s, planning, visualizing, making sure that we have all the right tools to secure our success, but completely forget to check if our goal is aligned with our value, passions, character, desired lifestyle and life purpose.

I see people, climbing the wrong wall all the time: a lawyer, who dreams to be a writer; a student who slacks off in college, because he is not interested in studying economy or business; a housewife, who does not feel appreciated for her efforts and dreams about having more independence; a top manager, who is going through a divorce, because his personal life shattered while he was making his career. All these people made the same mistake at some point – they chose a goal that they thought they SHOULD WANT instead of taking time to reflect on what is it that they TRULY WANT.

If you want more in life than just leading a comfortable lifestyle, if you are unsure what goal to pursue, if you are tired of other people telling you what you should and should not want, if you cannot seem to stick to your goal for more than two weeks, it is time to figure out the goals that are right for you!

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For many of us January is one month of the year when we reflect on what we would like to change in our life, set goals, start new projects, decide to let go of negative habits and improve our character. I honestly believe that if we all managed to keep the same level of motivation, excitement and determination as we have in January, for the rest year, we would not need to read books about overcoming procrastination or staying focused on our goals.

Unfortunately, February comes and our enthusiasm and commitment wears thin. We find ourselves slowly slipping back to our old habits and old lifestyle. And finally, after about a month-and-a-half we throw our hands up in the air and declare, “Forget about it! It is too hard”. Then, of course, we wait for the next year to try again.

This year can be different!

Here are Seven Top Tips to help you stick to your New Year’s resolutions throughout the rest of the year:

1.    Have realistic expectations. In the best tradition of the  holiday season, when we decide to pursue a certain goal, we often overestimate our future level of motivation and productivity and underestimate possible implications that we might encounter on our way. Do not expect to see immediate results of your efforts. Miracles do happen, but only to people who are willing to wait for them! Keep that in mind when you set deadlines for your goals.

Solution: Imagine that my New Year’s resolution is very similar to yours. How long do you think it will take me to reach this goal, given that I have a full time job, two young children that I have to pick up after school and a Salsa Class on Wednesdays and Fridays? So what is your verdict? Most likely, this is the same deadline you should consider for yourself. It has been proven that we are a lot better at making estimations for other people than for ourselves.

2. Pick just one goal. I know that it might be tempting to go after one career-related goal, one personal life goal, one health goal, one self-improvement goal and top that all off with a three-week vacation, a great book that you are dying to write and Japanese language courses that you always wanted to take. Have you ever tried juggling with 3-7 tennis balls? Try it. I bet you, that you will drop at least two balls on your first try. Juggling with 3-7 goals is no different. You will give up on all of them before you know it.

Solution: Prioritize. Choose just one resolution that is the most important to you at the moment and fully concentrate your efforts on it. The rest of the resolutions on your list can wait.

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