If you have abandonded your new year resolutions, don’t be so hard on yourself! Success Coach Kenneth Ferrer shares his tips to help you get yourself back on track.
Start with Self-Appreciation: It is important to hear this message loud and clear: Falling off of your path when working towards your goals, is a completely normal part off life. You are okay, there is nothing wrong with you. Falling off is a great opportunity to love and appreciate yourself, because if you have the courage to stand up and say “This is what I want,” then you also have it within yourself to stand BACK up when you’ve fallen. Humans are inherently resilient- tap into that.
Open Concept of Success: Make sure that you have an open concept of success. I have a client who lost 112lbs in one year. In pursuit of his big one year goal (which he exceeded), he set some milestone goals, and he didn’t always hit them. I remember him being temporarily discouraged when he didn’t hit his 6 month weigh-in goal of 70lb weight loss, he had lost 68lbs. He was temporarily discouraged, which is totally fine, but he didn’t stay discouraged. If he let himself be derailed from the big picture just because he didn’t meet every small milestone goal, then he would not have gotten as far as he has. Instead of being unconditionally attached to your definition of “perfection”, seek to make overall consistent progress.
Write a Letter to Yourself- Express WHY: If you know you’re going to be in a situation in which you’d find yourself making excuses, write yourself a letter expressing WHY your goal is so important. I have an executive client with an ongoing volunteering goal who had a 7-day international work trip a couple weeks ago. Typically upon his return from trips like that, he would overload his schedule and end up not putting in time volunteering. So, He wrote a powerful letter to himself ahead of time to read upon his return from his trip reminding him of how important this goal was to him, why its important to be involved with this charity, and of the overall positive impact he is able to have by showing up. He left the letter on his bed so that it was one of the first things he saw when he got back, and guess what? He volunteered the very next day, and he reported that he was both jet-lagged and very happy that he did it.
Break Down The Big Goal: I do an important exercise with clients that helps them connect to their goals. When a client comes to me with a goal, like lets say she wants to start her own business in one year. I’d say: In one Year you want to start a business. What do you need to do 6 months from now in order to be in line with that one year goal? Now what do you need to do this month to be in line with the 6 month goal? Now what do you need to do this week in order to be in line with your “this month” goal? Now what do you need to do today, in order to be in line with your 1 week goal, and finally what do you need to do right now in order to be in line with your today goal? The big point here is that what we are doing right now creates our future. You don’t have to do it alone! Do your homework, ask for help, and even hire a coach! If you want to be the absolute best you can be, it is up to you to make it happen.
For more information on Kenneth, click here.