YzFit

It is exciting to bring in a new year and think: What will the future hold?  It is a time of celebration and hopefully a time of reflection. 

A trend that I have noticed over the last few years is that New Year resolutions have seemed to have lost their popularity.  Some state “well I have goals and I’m not going to use any specific time frame…”  However those who use specific time frames are typically more successful(typically shorter time frames) than those who do not.  

I’m not going to argue whether making a new year resolution is important or not although I have made several personally.  But I do want to look at goal setting.  A popular model that has shown to be successful is what they call making SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. 

If your goal fits these criteria than chances you are on your way to success. If your goal does not make these criteria then my challenge would be for you to break up your goal into smaller pieces.  This will help you not be overwhelmed by the magnitude of your goal but to entice you to chip away at that progress. 

Best wishes to you in 2011!

I have found that most people when asked what motivates them they will say the rewards whether its pursuing a promotion or the joy of fitting into that bikini for summer.  But in actuality research studies show that more people are motivated by the possible negative impact.  If I don’t lose the weight I will not feel comfortable in my swimsuit and I will be embarrassed or if I do not get this project finished the boss may fire me etc etc. 

There is a website that has really taken a hold of this concept and is helping people find the motivation that they need. Stickk is a simple website that lets you post your goals and set a time frame that you are going to accomplish your goal or task.  And you can set the cost of what happens if you do not finish(you can also set it at zero).  This happens through setting a financial penalty of which the money you set aside will either be donated to a charity or what they call an anti-charity.  An example of an anti-charity: If you are a big pro-life activist think how motivated you will be if you know that your ten dollars will go to an abortion clinic if you do not complete your goal this week.  Chances are you will be motivated every week to not allow a penny to go to them.  Success your goal/task is accomplished.  Check out stickk.com for some added motivation.