Here we are – the beginning of a new year and there is the usual emphasis on Facebook, podcasts, blogs and even your email inbox, encouraging you to set New Years resolutions and goals.
Okay, so here is how you may react;
- You do nothing
- You’ll get pissed off with all hype and the pressure of setting goals and resolutions… enough already!
- You half-ass state what you are going to do… ie: make more money, get out of debt, lose weight, work out …
- You embrace all the information and you are motivated to set new goals for the new year ahead after carefully reviewing what happened last year.
So let me address something right off the bat…if you are dragging your feet about making changes in any area of your life, well, you are pretty much normal and the truth is, in general, New Year’s resolutions don’t work.
Get this:
- 25% of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions after 1 week.
- 60% of people abandon them within 6 months. (The average person makes the same New Year’s resolution 10 separate times without success!)
- Only 5% of those who lose weight on a diet keep it off; 95% regain it. A significant % gain back more than they originally lost.
- Even after a heart attack, only 14 percent of patients makes any lasting changes around eating or exercise.
You are probably not surprised, you possibly can list a page or two of resolutions you’ve made over the years that never got completed! (Me too!)
But written goals work. Surprised? Nah, you know that intellectually, but there is a real fear that people have when it comes to ‘change’. You just want to curl up with your ‘blankey’, and carry on with what is familiar vs doing something different. Does this sound familiar, maybe too familiar?
Let’s talk about money, my area of expertise, and honestly answer this question;
“Are you dragging your feet and putting your head in the sand when it comes to the reality of your finances and your relationship with money?”
What I mean by that is; you know you need to make some changes, but you keep putting it off and procrastinating about doing anything to solve the problem.
(“If I don’t look at it, I don’t have to deal with it… maybe it’ll go away!”)
Just so you know… it most likely won’t go away unless you have some rich uncle somewhere giving you truckloads of money, so I’m going to give you some solutions right now.
The truth is that your motive for deferring action comes down to two simple reasons; The first is fear (unknown or knowing how to change) and the second is inertia… more commonly known as ‘laziness’. Both can work hand in hand keeping you from making any growth in all areas of your life – not just money.
The fear rears its head up as; not being good enough, smart enough or even the idea that your results still won’t make a difference and so you get overwhelmed and do nothing. (Back to the blankey 😉 ) Fear can grip you and can stop you from starting your own company, staying in a job you hate, keep you in a bad relationship. It needs to be crushed – once and for all!
Let’s look at your relationship with money and answer the following questions;
Is what your procrastinating about (aka – putting off!) when it comes to your current money situation truly important, will you do it eventually?
If you answer ‘no’, then fine, just drop it (or continue procrastinating) and move on to something more important. It’s often right to say ‘yes’ to only a few things and to say ‘no’ to all the rest. Problem solved.
If you answered ‘yes’, then answer this next question;
Okay you’ll end up doing it, great, but what’s so nice and rewarding to you achieving it? Why do you want it?
Think about it… make it extraordinarily big in your head. See it visually, sense how good it feels. Now, write it down in detail along with why it is so important to you!
I also recommend writing down the cons and consequences you may potentially face by not getting it done.
This can help as well, although it creates negative emotions, you can use these in your favour to turn it around.
Alright now you have all the warm and fuzzy feelings of achieving this goal, you can see it… Now, answer this;
What is one thing you can do immediately to get closer to that goal?
“The one who moves mountains begins by carrying away small stones.” ~ Confucious
What is one single thing you can do right away. It can be anything, big or small, but it’s the first step to get the momentum going.
If it’s to stop the bleeding of credit card debt, a small step could be looking at what you bought or maybe even the first action needs to be opening the bill statements 😉 , what did you buy and why did you buy it?
I promise you won’t die, but you will take the first step to stop procrastinating about your relationship with money!
Action defeats inertia. All that is stopping you is the bullshit story that you are telling yourself of why you can’t get the results you want and that fear needs to be crushed once for and all!
People that are successful, are not all smarter than you, have more education or necessarily come from money… they’ve just proven to themselves that fear is a lie and that it never goes away. They know that you just need to find the tools, support system, mentors or coaches, to achieve the shift in their habits and skills. Why?
As the saying goes… “Insanity is doing the same things over and over again expecting different results.” And, you can’t make decisions from where you are, only from where you want to be!
I love and get juiced by helping people see, taste and feel their dreams! We all know that life can be short, and so it’s time to stop settling and get going on what you really want! It’s a lot more fun and you’ll be a lot happier when you are living your dream!
Make 2017 the year you draw the line in the sand and say; “That’s enough! I’m going to (be, do, have) _____!” (add your declaration)
Every meaningful intention or dream will face resistance. From the moment you set it, you will begin to feel the pull. But the way to overcome it, is to focus on that goal of what you want and why you want it.
Then you can see and celebrate your progress. Let’s face it, life is hard, especially when you aren’t seeing progress. You feel like you are working yourself to death, going nowhere. But those written goals are like mile-markers on a highway. You can see how far you have come and how far you need to go and then celebrate when you accomplish them.
Why do we pursue anything in life… we want to be happy! Not having money sucks. Money does solve problems, so if it is stopping you from having fun in your life, then do something about it.
Call me if you want and we can have a conversation about where you need to start…just do something!
And lastly, when you can answer the question of what money will give you the time and freedom to do, be or have, you’ve tapped into your ‘why’. It’s the magic, the secret sauce….
So, go kick ass in 2017, I’ll be right beside you! ♥
Lots of love,
