Are New Year’s resolutions a waste of time?
From my socials this week it looks like a mixed bag when it comes to New Year’s resolutions… some people are not so keen on the 'new year, new you' stuff whereas others are all for setting resolutions, choosing their word for the year (if you're interested, mine is intuition).
I personally love a new year, and a chance to start anew (although appreciate that you can literally start over whenever you want!). Funnily enough this was a topic that came up today in the business coaching pod I attend facilitated by Emma Dempsey, and one of the other coaches had said that each breath is a chance to begin again. Which I loved!
“Every breath can be a reawakening, a shedding of the past (even it it’s just the past minute), and a moment to re-ground myself in the present. In the sunshine outside. In the joy of being alive.”
A New Year’s resolution is basically goal setting; making a decision to do, or to avoid, something for the year ahead.
I do think goal setting is a worthwhile exercise, although it doesn’t need to be done for the 1st of January. As a good friend of mine pointed out, Winter is a time for “resting and contemplation”, and the more natural time for new beginnings is actually Spring.
For me, the downfall comes when the goals we set aren’t SMART (another corporate framework whereby you ensure the goal you set is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound). There can be a tendency to have a generic resolution like, “I want to be healthier in 2023”. I think having a way of measuring your progress is important, and you do want to be specific over what you are trying to achieve (e.g. what does healthier mean to you?)… however, I think the concepts of achievable and realistic might lead someone to play it safe, and stay within their comfort zone.
I much prefer Marie-Claire Donnelly’s approach to SMART goals. MC is a friend and fellow coach, based in the Central Belt of Scotland. MC wrote a book sharing her lessons from lockdown, called “It Is What It Is”. And within her book she shared her take on SMART goals:
Spiritually driven; a goal which will have a positive impact on your life, the life of others’ close to you and the world at a whole is always a good goal to set.
Mind-blowing; the achievement of a goal should be so exciting that it slightly blows your mind.
Attainable; the subconscious mind likes to work on bringing things to fruition which it truly believes that, with a bit of effort, can actually be done.
Risky; there has to be a feeling that you would have to stretch yourself out of your comfort zone to achieve it.
True to you; there is absolutely no point whatsoever in setting a goal which is not in true alignment with who you are at your core and what your purpose is.
If your goal is to get more organised in 2023, then my free printable templates will (hopefully) be a helpful addition to your toolkit. You can download all 7 of them here.
