As the new year rolls in, many people try to improve themselves by participating in New Year’s resolutions. While some are able to achieve their new goals, many find their resolutions to be too challenging or simply do not have the time to fulfill them.
On Jan. 10, the Oakland University Alumni Association hosted Georgia Homsany, the founder and CEO of DAILY DOSE for a webinar entitled “New Year, New View: Setting Goals that Set You Up for Success.” In the webinar, Homsany not only explains why many people give up on their New Year’s resolutions but also shows how to create stronger goals for the future.
According to Homsany, there are a few key reasons why people tend to fall behind on their New Year’s resolutions. The most common reason why many do not follow through with their resolution is because their goal is too big.
“One example could be, ‘I want to lose 20 pounds,’” Homsany said. “I hear a lot of people talk about weight loss with the New Year. 20 pounds is a lot of weight for most people, so to just throw out these lofty goals, it’s going to be difficult to go from one extreme to the next. Think about how we can dial back and really break these goals into bite sizes.”
Another reason Homsany gave for why people give up on their resolutions is that it may not be something people actually want to do, such as going to the gym or eating more vegetables.
“If you’re saying I should really eat more vegetables, you’re probably not going to do that resolution if you don’t like vegetables,” Homsany said. “We want to reframe things or pick something that we actually want to do that way we’re excited to do it and it sets us up for success.”
While there are several reasons why people do not complete their New Year’s resolutions, making goals more attainable is a good place to start. Homsany walked through the steps of creating more achievable goals.
“The first thing I want you to do is to write down everything you want to accomplish this year,” Homsany said. “I want you to pick three of these goals that you wrote on your list that you’d like to focus on.”
Homsany challenged the webinar attendees to decide on one of their three goals to focus on, encouraging participants to keep in mind which goal would bring them the most joy.
“I want you to think about what’s going to give you the most joy after achieving it,” Homsany said. “Let’s break it down to what you can achieve in the next 60 days. I really want it to feel feasible. Not so much, ‘I can probably do that,’ but what can you definitely accomplish in the next 60 days because we want to set ourselves up for success.”
For those interested in reaching out to Homsany for more information about goal-setting, please visit her LinkedIn page, or email her at [email protected].
