With my last resolution post we worked out our top 3 resolutions for this year. How are you feeling about your progress? Are you feeling accomplished or dejected?

Go ahead and pull those resolutions out and take a look at them. How does it make you feel? Do you feel like you have been trying but not making as much progress as you want or thought you would?

Here are a five observations and tips to get your re-focused and re-energized:

Stop Trying!
Every time you feel like you are trying hard to make progress, you are failing. This is a fact that our mind cannot reconcile. If you try something, then you did not succeed and since you did not succeed, for some inconceivable reason we judge ourselves to have failed or fallen short. So stop telling yourself you tried and honor what you did do. For the longest time I told myself that I had ‘tried’ to meditate and never felt good about having done it right, or long enough. Now, I meditate everyday and it doesn’t look or feel like anything I had read about. Some days it is only 2 minutes and other times it happens randomly throughout the day. If you made an effort, any effort, you had a success – so stop the judging game!

It Takes 21 Days
There is plenty of research out there corroborating that it takes 21 days of consecutive doing and saying to start a new pattern or habit. Neuro-linguistic programming, hypnosis and guided visualization works on this principle. So, take the time to re-read your intentions everyday at least 3 times a day. How about when you brush your teeth and just before you turn out the light?

The First Thing You Do Matters
See your list? Is it really important to you to make progress on those intentions? Let’s see how important it is.

Answer this question: what are the first three things you do each day?
Now you know what is really important to you. For me it’s breakfast for my kids, my personal quiet time and then in to work. At work, I still derail myself when I start with my routine to-do list rather than the most important action that will move my daily goal forward.

Take a Small Step
Maybe you haven’t even gotten started on a resolution – it’s just not happening. Try this: pick an activity that you enjoy and give it symbolic meaning toward your desired resolution. Here’s an example: let’s say you set a goal to grow your business opportunities and customers but just don’t know what else you could do and are feeling stuck. But you enjoy gardening. Commit to spend time in your garden planting daily (regularly), and every time you dig in the soil or plant something new, tell yourself you are planting new opportunities that will result in a blooming business. Focus on that intention and keep at it!

Redefine the Meaning of “Goal”
Sometimes we get stuck on the meaning of a goal as the end result. It’s just time to give ourselves a new definition that is far more effective. Make your goal the very first step, not the very last step. Once you have completed the very first step, then pick another step and do it all over again. The whole objective is to make movement, no matter where or how far, just some movement. Once you get moving, the momentum will take you forward and you’ll find your way toward your resolution.

I hope these help you on your road to sticking with your resolutions for this amazing year. Let me know if you have questions or need support and I’ll see what I can do to help.