Three Steps to Save a Busted New Year’s Resolution (Or Boost a Current One)

Are you someone who creates New Year’s resolutions? If so, congratulations! Those who take on resolutions face a trend working against them. I want to provide you some support. I have seen in multiple places that a third of people falter on their resolution by the end of January. Other stats I have come across have roughly half of resolutioners off track midway through the year, to as high as 80% giving up by the end of February.

What then should you do if you want to keep your resolution going, or if your resolution has already fallen by the wayside? Whichever boat you are in, here are three steps to save a busted New Year’s resolution (or boost a current one).

(You can preview all three steps in a short video here.)

Step One: Write down a description of the life you want the resolution to help you achieve.

This is what I sometimes call a Dream Blueprint. The key to this is making a vision of what you want your life to be like. In this instance, you aren’t necessarily writing your resolution. Write about what your life will be like when you achieve your resolution. Add to it what it will feel like and how you will feel. And do commit it to paper with a writing instrument as it will give you a deeper connection over just thinking about it or typing it.

Some people like to do this step through what is called a vision board. Traditionally, a vision board is made up of words and pictures that represent your dreams and goals. People will often cut them out of magazines and attach them to a board. They then place them in a prominent place where it gets seen frequently. Either way you do this step, whether through writing or through a vision board, it is about getting connected to knowing what you want, connecting to the positive emotions you would feel making your dreams come true and generating something to help you stay motivated in your efforts. You might also play with writing about it in the present tense.

However you do this step, you may end up with a new version of your resolution or a reframing. That is perfectly fine. What I am trying to encourage here is a way of better setting you up for success and the life you want. Try to think about this in those terms, leaving you open to letting go of the specific resolution you started with and replace it with an empowering vision of the life you would like to create. This vision, in concert with the next two steps, will have you ready to launch your dreams (or blast them into a higher orbit)!

(You can hear me talking about the three steps here.)

Step Two: Name the One Thing you should most focus on right now to achieve that life.

With your Dream Blueprint in mind and in front of you, think about One Thing you should focus on today or this week, to move toward making it a reality. Think about something that helps you make an impact towards achieving your dreams. Write it with pen and paper. You can transfer this and your Dream Blueprint to an electronic format later if you like. (This step is inspired by the book The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth about Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Find out more about The ONE Thing at https://the1thing.com/.)

This key focus should be something that is achievable. It can be small, medium or big. It can be something you get done in one effort, such as a phone call, or it can be something that you do over and over, such as walking each day. Whatever you choose, the steps you take on this key focus will help give you momentum. And ideally, it is an important enough focus that it gives you a high level of impact, the most bang for your buck. In any case, the most important thing is to begin. Get going, and refine later as you keep deciding day to day, week to week, the One Thing you should most focus on.

Allow yourself to update the One Thing as needed. You might do this exercise for the first time, and/or later in the process, and have something you want to do right away. Go ahead and get it done! Then switch to a new One Thing. Sometimes your One Thing will be quick, other times it will be a focus for a longer period of time. Keep working on each one until it becomes time to create a new One Thing and focus on that.

Step Three: Pick the earliest time each day you can take steps towards that One Thing and do it!

Think of this as your Power Hour. The sooner in the day you can set to work towards your Dream Blueprint, the better chance you have of getting it done. Try to make it your first hour of the day. For someone on a typical first shift schedule, the time you pick for this step might be 6:00 am. While a time this early might seem crazy, there’s a good reason for it. The later in the day you choose, the more likely you are to encounter interruptions and reasons to delay. Later times are at greater risk of being less effective, if they happen at all. Thus, start your day with your first hour dedicated to your Dream Blueprint. (This step is inspired by the book Power Hour by Adrienne Herbert. Dive deeper at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/power-hour/id1443615779/.)

Now, 6:00 am may be the middle of a sleep cycle for some, or the end of the day for others, depending on your work schedule. The first hour of your day is the magic hour. That magic time may require some shifts on your part such as going to bed earlier so you are able to carve out the time. Maybe at first, it isn’t a full hour. Maybe you only do it five days a week to match your work schedule (assuming you are on a traditional five-day work week). The prime emphasis here is to get going with times in your schedule that give you regular action towards your dreams and goals.

The more you put work in on this step in the cycle (in connection with the other two, of course), the more exciting it gets! My experience with these is that I felt an increasing sense of pride and accomplishment the more I put the work in. My self-esteem increased as well. I took myself, and my dreams, more seriously. Likewise, I have seen similar results with people I work with taking these steps: seeing a clearer path before them, taking the leadership to choose their most important work in the moment on that path, and then driving forward with scheduled bursts of powerful action steps! I firmly believe these regular efforts in your life, and on your own behalf, will strengthen your sense of purpose, crank up your momentum, and increase your sense of accomplishment and self-worth.

(The three steps here are part of a ten step program I have put together to help you overcome your fears and help you achieve your dreams. See all ten here.)

As an illustration, consider a common resolution to lose weight.

• To begin, we shall look at a Dream Blueprint for that resolution. You might start by thinking about the resolution and your reason for picking that. Perhaps you want to be in better shape to live a long life. That is one that means a lot to me personally these days. So you could write, “I imagine being healthier. It would feel so good to not stress about my health numbers, and I would be excited about being in better shape.” To follow up, some people like to see themselves doing that in the present tense and find a true connection with that. “I am focused on living healthier and I feel so proud for doing so.” Or, “I am in the process of building a healthier lifestyle and I am thrilled about this journey.” Whether or not you put it into present tense, focus on the reframing into a vision for your life.

• Next is to decide on the One Thing that is most important for you to focus on at the moment. You might decide, as I recently did, that you need some expert help. Almost immediately I set about getting an appointment with a healthcare professional. That done, I was quickly on to my next One Thing. In my case, I knew my next One Thing was to plan out better food choices. I had the benefit of having actionable information from previous research and guidance. My One Thing moved to the purchase and consumption of the meals I’ve planned, and to continue to have regular planning and purchasing of healthy meals to stay on track. When this phase of my work with the doctor is done, I may have additional information for a new One Thing. If I didn’t have that, my next One Thing might have been doing research for information and additional people that can help me (like a health coach for instance, or a quality workshop).

• In my situation, my One Thing doesn’t appear to be something I would do every morning since my focus is on eating the meals I’ve planned for. However, I benefit from using my Power Hour to do my planning (and purchasing through a service). I could additionally use my Power Hour on the other days to take inventory to see how I am doing on meals and to do some forward planning. In the alternate situation where I still had need to do research, this could easily fit in as what I do in my Power Hour, both for information as well as resources. Either way, the Power Hour portion will look different depending on the type of Dream Blueprint you are following and the current One Thing in front of you. And in this example with my health, I feel a big boost from the work I’ve already put in, the food choices I am making, and the supplements my doctor gave me while we wait for my lab work to come back.

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Consider another case. Some people set a resolution to do something daily, such as read a book every day.

• This is an example of a resolution that might already be busted simply because someone missed one day. (If you are saying to yourself that a Power Hour approach might keep a resolution like this on track, kudos! Still, we can learn something from looking at the steps.) Imagine a Dream Blueprint for this situation. The individual with this resolution might want to feel more accomplished and want to have more intellectual fuel for some endeavor, avocation or vocation. That individual might write,”I really want to get ahead with my endeavor (e.g. leading a group, starting a business, etc.). I would be so proud to have it go well and to make a difference in the world through it.” Then as before they might try envisioning this in the present tense. For the sake of illustration, I will have their focus be to start a business, a side-hustle. “I am building my business and feel like a rock star doing what I have wanted to do for so long.”

• Thus reframed, the One Thing to most concentrate on might still be doing daily reading to help better inform how to build up the business. We could go on and set a Power Hour based on that. Before we do, consider other items that might be the One Thing. There might be a first One Thing, as in the previous case, of looking for expert help (e.g. a business or accountability coach, or a local support network for small businesses.). There might be a One Thing to even know what to read before beginning a One Thing of reading every day.

• As was noted earlier, it makes sense to capitalize on having a first hour Power Hour to get daily reading done if that is the current One Thing. A tweak to that might be to focus on the Power Hour Monday through Friday. That approach sometimes helps me. If the One Thing is to look for expert help, the Power Hour could be doing searches online and in person, as well as making contacts with people who might be able to point the way. If the One Thing is to look for what to read, this might come through using your Power Hour to research books and book clubs, visiting physical and online bookstores, and researching the field you are wanting to learn and read about in the first place.

Hopefully these examples help you better visualize how to put these three steps into action in your life. The three steps of making a Dream Blueprint, using a leadership lens to determine a One Thing to focus on, and carving out a Power Hour to create consistent action These steps will make you a leader in your own life. They will give you direction, actionable steps, and a way to build the habits to keep you on track towards your dreams.

I want to give you a tool to help support your efforts. It is called The Win or Learn Program and I am offering it through my site. You can get free access to the program for 30 days by going to http://bit.ly/WinOrLearn2022 or by clicking here. Whatever you decide, I am here for you and rooting for you. Remember, trust yourself, you can do this!

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