Many people start the new year on a high note. There are massive goals and resolutions. Unfortunately, after the month of January, many of these goals land on the sidelines or get taken off of the resolutions list completely. This is a fairly common issue as shown by the research by University of Scranton.
Only 8% of people actually achieve their new year’s resolution. Some may look at that statistic and justify. But what needs to change in order for someone to fall under that 8%? They always say, the best way to answer a question is to go straight to the source.
Luckily, there are a few experts that “cracked the code” by working alongside top CEO’s, influencers and celebrities to ensure that their high achieving clients are always achieving their goals.
Brooke Kalan, transformational life coach and speaker for purpose driven executives and influencers, is one of the experts that cracked the code. Having more than a decade of training and experience in neuroscience, metaphysics and psychology, Kalan began to notice several commonalities amongst high achievers that stick to their goals and resolutions.
“I find that high achievers with big goals tend to forget that they’re humans,” Kalan explains, “we’re conditioned to believe that you must be busy and always doing something. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But high achievers get to a point where they’re setting themselves up for burnout and a serious blow to their self worth”.
So what can we do differently to ensure that we are not setting ourselves for failure, and use it to hop back onto the New Year’s resolution bandwagon?
Kalan shares with us three tips.
Tap Back To Your Why
Look back at your goals on your new year’s resolutions. Why did you put them there? How were you feeling when you declared these resolutions? The likelihood is that it did not come from a place of overwhelm. In fact, it probably came from a place of curiosity and excitement towards possibilities.
“The most important part, whether in working towards something or any important things in life, is coming from the place of curiosity and excitement,” Kalan says, “lukewarm desires and reasons as to why you want to achieve something doesn’t cut it. That
For high achievers, thoughts and will powers are already there. So the priority has to be in getting that excitement back. This will put your cognitive programming to its advantage.
Kalan adds, “a magnificent part about being a human is that we are wired to find solutions when we feel emotionally invested in our desires. Use that. Let your brain work FOR you, not against you”.
Put More Focus On the Process
“High achievers get to a point where they want to control every single step as to how goals unfold into life,” Kalan mentions. “so when things go off hand even by a little bit, that becomes enough of a reason for them to throw their resolutions out the window. They are afraid to get disappointed”.
There is nothing wrong with planning. Some people may even feel the need to sit down and visualize every single steps involved in achieving those resolutions. Though we can control how we will tackle what is in front of us, some parts of the process will be unpredictable.
Just because one milestone you were supposed to hit on your way to achieving your new year’s resolution did not happen, that does not mean that one has failed. Besides, new year’s resolutions are not short term goals either. It is a longer process.
Kalan emphasizes the importance of trusting the process, “focus on the goal you want. Focus on why you’re doing this. Hold that excitement. And enjoy the process. It will make sure you don’t get sidetracked”.
Do a Lot More of Nothing
This is exactly as simple as it sounds. Spend more time doing nothing. Literally nothing- without writing or reading or meditating or praying. Just sit and be present.
Kalan notes, “this is something that almost all of my clients had huge problems with. For high achievers, their problems do not stem from lack of actions. They stem from doing too much to a point where it messes up their performance state. So spend more time doing nothing”.
After each day of work, your brain and nervous system is filled with debris and junk data that needs to be cleared and basically reset daily. When you sit and do nothing, you are giving your brain, body and energy a break to very simply recharge and recalibrate.
By doing this, you are allowing your brain more space for inspirations to come through. These inspirations, many times, may turn out to be very helpful in coming up with out-of-box solutions to help you tackle your goals faster.