Why Do We Fail in Our New Year's Resolutions?

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

“I’m going to quit smoking.” Five days later, stress takes over and you do it again.

“I am going to increase the sales of the business by 20% this year.” Six months later the business has closed.

Surely you feel identified with these phrases either because they have happened to you in a personal capacity or because you know other people who have seen how their New Year’s resolutions stay in that only a few days or weeks after we have proposed them.

According to Michael Hyatt, great leadership guru, New Years resolutions are as old as time. Unfortunately for most of us these purposes don’t last long. Why?

For some they last so little that already in the first days of the year they consider them failed. According to a study by the University of Scranton, in the United States only 8% of people succeed in their endeavors. This is quite discouraging, especially since surely some of you have already stopped coming up with new goals because you think you are going to fail to achieve them. That is not the attitude!

Here are the five reasons that Michael and Megan Hyatt point out as the culprits that we fail in our purposes:

1. Loosely defined purposes

It is not enough to say that you want to be a better professional or that you want to improve your health. Your wish alone is not going to change your life. You have to define it in terms of something you can act on. A vague purpose will not help you know where to start to achieve it.

Goals must be specific. For example, if you intend to earn more money, you must set a figure.

2. Boring purposes

Goals should be interesting, exciting, and preferably challenging. In order to be successful in achieving a goal, you must have intrinsic motivation.

It all comes down to the fact that if we do not understand why we want to achieve a certain goal, it is quite likely that we will get lost along the way. Think right now about those resolutions that you set for yourself and assess what is at stake? What will I gain if I achieve this goal or what will I lose if I don’t? Does it stimulate you?

3. Purposes too easy

Well yes, the third reason why we fail in our purposes is because they are too easy. Although it may seem contradictory, it is not. While we have always been told that the goals we set should be realistic, this does not mean that they should be easily achievable. Being realistic does not mean being conformist, in other words, bet high and you will win more.

Goals must be outside of our comfort zone, as the expert tells us. There are three areas:

• The first is the comfort zone, which is where realistic goals tend to be. We deceive ourselves by setting goals that are very close to our current situation, thinking of them as an improvement of a certain situation, but if we do not feel obliged to make an extra effort to achieve them, or motivate us, there are many possibilities of ending up failing. those “easy to reach” goals.
• The second is the zone outside of our comfort. Here you begin to feel fear, uncertainty, and you doubt if you can achieve it because you have never done it before. This is where you should try to set your goals.
• The last one is the illusory area, if we propose something in this area, being little reachable, we end up demotivating and abandoning ourselves.

Our brain pushes us to protect ourselves, setting unambitious goals simply because we fear failure or make a fool of ourselves. Don’t let it!

4. Too many goals or goals that are too ambitious

The fourth reason why we fail is that our goals end up overwhelming us because they are too many or because they are very ambitious goals. You must work conscientiously in setting goals and defining an order of priority in order to work more efficiently.

Michael Hyatt tells us about the importance of concentrating efforts, focusing on a few goals at a time can make us much more effective in achieving them.

5. We fail in our purposes because we forget them

It is important to always keep in mind the goals so as not to lose the north, that is why it is advisable to review them periodically, which in addition to serving as a reminder will help us evaluate if everything is on the right track or if some adjustment is necessary.

Ready to achieve your purposes?