I just heard today that 80% of New Year's Resolutions fail by the second week of February. Wow. Among other things I guess if you walk into a gym, you'll notice that's true.
Why do you think this is true? Often times, we set ourselves up for lofty goals and an end point, that perhaps we didn't think about the steps we have to take to make them reality. This takes me back to one of my mentors, Dr. Wayne Andersen who showed me the concept of Structural Tension. He successfully implemented this concept to help others create health in their lives. The author, composer and filmmaker, Robert Fritz introduced this creative process to Dr. Andersen. It triggers us to examine our current reality and then our goal. In the middle are those steps that take us out of our comfort zone to step toward making our goals reality. They liken it to pulling a rubber band tight to create the tension. If there's no tension, everything stays status quo. There's no urgency to move. We need discrepancy and disruption in our current reality to move forward. Once we reach a goal, we start all over again with another.
Writing down our goals is so important. Don't just write them down. Create a structural tension chart starting with where you are now at the bottom of the page, listing where you want to be at the top of the page and in the middle list those steps that you must take to achieve it. The steps that take us out of our comfort zone and our reality.
We've heard of SMART goals. When you make a resolution, why not consider the SMART format and make sure that what we want is possible. Along side your structural tension chart that you create to achieve your goal, write down how that goal is SMART. This is your map to achieve it.
Remember: "A goal without a plan is just a wish." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
It's not too late. If some of your New Year's Resolutions fall into that 80% this week, take some steps to reevaluate your goals and make what is really important to you happen. You can do it!