Why New Year's Resolutions Don't Work

How many times have you on December 31st told yourself that things like “This coming year things will be different!” or “I am going to exercise more!” or “I am going to leave my job and start my own business.” However, come March we start giving up or the vision we had in December and January has faded away. I think we have all experienced our resolutions going to pieces - I know I have at the sight of that chocolate cake!

New year resolutions are often ineffective. People start off with earnest intentions but subconsciously their resolutions are a wish and a hope. They may take some actions but there is no real commitment to follow through. People are really “resolved” to fulfill their resolutions; however, they usually give up at the first road block. Old patterns, old habits, old conversations, and old ways of being come rushing back. Someone may say to themselves “Well, it’s never going to happen for me anyways, why bother?” This is exactly why you see a mad rush of people in gyms in January and by mid February it’s only the die-hard gym goers that are showing up.

You may ask yourself, “Why does this keep happening over and over again?” Well, there are a few factors at play here. The vision you had has faded, your resolve has weakened, it was more of a wish with no substantial plan to go forward with and your environment does not support your resolution. Your environment includes what’s physically around you and the people in your life.

Effective goals are the first step to getting results. Then comes planning. What is the difference between resolution and a goal? A resolution may look something like “I want to lose 40 lbs.” It’s a great idea or concept but it may not be real for a person because they haven’t had the experience of success around losing that weight permanently. This is where Goal Coding™ comes in. Goal Coding™ works at an experiential level.

The Goal Coding™ engages the left and right side of the brain. It provides the experiential aspect of what it looks like once you have lost the 40 lbs. The experience of life after the 40 lbs are gone. And once you create that experience, the brain does not know difference between what’s real and what’s imaginary.

There were studies and experiments done in the late 80s, where psychologists had athletes imagine scoring the goal or getting the point in their sport over and over again. They observed a marked improvement in the athlete’s performance when they had spent time imaging getting the ball through the hoop or making it to the finish line first because the brain does not know the difference between real and imaginary. The experience of creating that future of being 40 lbs lighter will propel you forward even when the going gets tough. If you imagine it you can make it happen!

After creating a fantastic goal comes the planning - this means looking at where you want to be in a certain amount of time. If your goal entails saving $20,000 in the new year, a plan is required to figure out what it is going to take to have $20,000 in your savings account by the end of the year. This means looking at monthly targets, weekly promises and daily actions. And then once you have a plan in place you need to make sure that you are actually DOING the work!

To find out more about our The Goal Coding Technology™ and how it works you can get our video and workbook at https://www.lifetrainingpro.com/goal-coding.