A new year has begun, and with it comes a great chance to reflect on the year that’s gone by – as well as your plans for the coming year.
Time for some new year’s resolutions, right?
Wrong.
New year’s resolutions don’t work for most people.
Why new year’s resolutions don’t work
There are two reasons why new year’s resolutions rarely work, if ever.
Problem 1
First problem: evaluating and revising your life and business plans on a yearly basis, is too rare an event.
A time span of a year is simply too long. The horizon is too far out in the future to bring about any sense of immediacy and urgency – two highly motivating factors when it comes to pursuing and achieving your goals.
This is well-described in the book 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran, which you may have come across? The book is okay. The idea of setting more immediate goals of 12 weeks rather than a full year, is great!
However, the first time I was presented to the idea of setting 12-week goals, was in Mike Michalowicz’ legendary book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur – a book very close to my heart, it’s the book that helped my business take off, in 2009.
12-week goals work.
Problem 2
Second problem: few people seriously set new year’s resolutions, if any.
As conscious beings I believe we should. You only live once. Even with reincarnation taken into account, this life is the only one you’re living now. You are here. Now. So live your life consciously: set goals, pursue and achieve your goals!
Solution: set New Year’s Principles
While new year’s resolutions don’t work, I’ve found that setting new year’s principles does work.
Principles are choices.
Resolutions are wishes.
Solution part 1: write down your principles!
They work. But ONLY when you write them down, and remind yourself of your determination to follow-through on them, on a daily basis.
Unless your principles are written down, in a place where you see them on a daily basis: you’ll forget all about them, before they’ve had a chance to become part of your daily routine.
Which leads me to:
Solution part 2: focus on daily habits!
Don’t focus on the goal. Focus on consistent, deliberate, daily action. Yes indeed: establish daily habits, that become part of your routine. That’s the best way to achieve your goals. It’s what the science says – the experts agree on that one.
Solution part 3: focus on “short-term” success!
If you focus on a shorter time span for your principles and goals, you’ll be even more successful as a result of the process.
My New Year’s Gift to You!
So, is there a “best way” to write down your new year’s principles? Yes, as a matter of fact: there is!
What I’m about to share with you, is a sheet I created a year ago, to scratch my own itch. Throughout the year, I’ve revised it, to make the process more effective.
The sheet I’ll give you, is a major update though, even though it’s the first version I share with you. Why? Because you deserve the best. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s the truth – it’s what I believe. Everything I do, is about creating quality, that I can share with you.
As I began preparing my original sheet for public consumption, I came up with so many improvements I decided to do a major update – in fact a 100% rewrite of the original sheet. The result is a vastly improved worksheet.
Get it NOW by signing up below! I really hope you’ll take advantage of this. It’s cool!
Here’s Your Worksheet
Great! You access the worksheet via this link. It’s a Google Sheet, so you’ll have to be signed into Google in order to “Make a Copy” (via the File menu) so you can save it to your own account, and start editing the content:)
I’ve included instructions in the document itself. Your comments and questions are welcome! Just use the comments-section further down the page.
PS: this interactive Google doc will give you ongoing feedback on the progress you’re making towards achieving your goals.
I’m confident you’ll enjoy it! And feel free to share this post with your network if you want!
Dominic Yeomnan says
hi. is the New Year sheet still available – i dont see a place to sign up below (unless it is here now) I like your reviews of divi vs bb etc. thank you for the effort you put into sharing. dominic
Oliver Nielsen says
Hey Dominic
It sure is. It went missing due to a plugin update;-/
Please enjoy!
=)
Oliver