James Laughlin explains why 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by mid-February. He recommends planning in September through November instead, breaking goals into small steps, tracking progress regularly, and skipping the social media announcement. A client story shows how this approach led to a successful career change.
New Year's resolutions are designed to fail.
Right? 80% of people who set New Year's resolutions on January 1st each year fail, quit, or go in a totally different direction by mid February. So five or six weeks in, they are already quitting. Only 20% of people who set those New Year's resolutions at the start of the year are actually following through. Which part are you in? Are you in the 20% or are you. Historically, you've been in the 80%. Well, look, what's it going to cost you if you're part of the herd? What's it going to cost you if you continue to set big life goals, dreams, visions on January 1st? Well, let's think about January 1st, right? Often for a lot of people, they may have been celebrating on New Year's Eve. So there could be some champagne running through the bloodstream on New Year's Day. There could be a little bit of tiredness, maybe some grumpiness. For a lot of people, New Year's Day, it's a day to relax, not a day to set goals. And often people are overly ambitious and maybe mimicking other people's New Year's resolutions, they hear around them, they almost feel obliged to set some resolutions because everyone else does. Here's the one I hear the most. I'm going to lose weight this year, going to get healthy this year, going to join a gym, got to run a marathon. How many of you guys, over your lifetime on one of those New Year's Days have set a goal around health? I imagine many of you comment below. You know, I certainly have. But often by mid February, by Valentine's Day, we've quit and we're focusing on other things and we're back to our old habits. Now. I want to share a story with you about a client. This client had been working in the education sector for a long time and at the start of his career, got a lot of joy from it, loved it. But as the years went by, he started to get less fulfillment from it. Felt like the culture wasn't the right fit for him, felt like there wasn't as much joy around the staff room as there was when he was working with the kids. So he went through four, five, six years of mediocrity, started to just turn up, do the work, still produce great results, got paid well, but something wasn't sitting right. But he didn't have the knowledge or the clarity to know what it was and didn't know where to take it. But eventually he decided it's time to get a Coach. And so him and I connected and we started talking about, okay, what do you truly want in life? What does life mean to you? What do you believe about relationships? We started looking at his core values and started to paint a really clear picture of what his purpose was and how that aligned to his passion. So over a course of months we worked that out. He then decided, okay, I need to create a plan. So we created a really in depth plan. And when I plan for the following year, I start in September, October at the latest, November. And there's an eight step process to go through in planning out your specific goals and outcomes for the following year. Don't take risks with that stuff. It's your life. It's a one shot deal. You got one shot. Write that one down. It's a one shot deal. You've got to really focus on the fact that you've got one opportunity in this life to live it fully. So with this client, he got to work. He had a plan. He upskilled in different areas. He understood what his purpose was and what impact he wanted to have. Now he's leading the life he wants. He's changed careers, he's got absolute freedom. He's got the ability to impact the people he wants to impact and he's getting an incredible amount of fulfillment. And so for you, I want you to think about what it's going to cost you if you don't get that clarity. So here on a one post it note. As you can see, I like post it notes. On this one post it note, I've got the four reasons why New Year's resolutions fail. And on New Year's Day, this time, I'd like you in 2021 to be sitting on January 1st, enjoying yourself with your family, chilling out, not thinking about some random resolutions that you want to make. Here's the four reasons why I think you should be chilling out on New Year's Day and not writing New Year's resolutions. Number one, too many people treat a marathon like a sprint. So they set these goals and they want to go after them really hard. They want to start on January 1 and by the 1st of February, they want to be really strong, really fit the best person at the F45 club. They start too quick. So when you're starting with a new goal, it's about small micro wins. And the little micro wins add up to macro successes. So start small, don't treat it like a sprint. It's a marathon. It's a lifelong marathon. It's a year long marathon. Break it into small little chunks. Second on the list here is that too many people fail with their New Year's resolutions because they have lack of vision. When you say, I want to lose weight, that's not what you want to do. You got to dig deeper than that. Why do you want to lose weight? I just want to look good. That's not the only reason. Oh, I just want to be more attractive. That's not the only reason. Dig deeper and you start digging deeper and realize, actually, when I'm 75, I want to have mobility. I don't want to be in solitude and not able to connect with people because I can't move. I don't want to be put in a home and forgot about. I don't want to lose out on running down the beach with my grandkids. Hey, that's why you want to get to the gym this year. That's why you want to have sustained exercise. So think about your vision. Get clear on that. And that's why most people fail. Third there. You don't track your progress. So many people don't track their progress. And that's why I think it's important. Once you set a goal, have a plan, and I have a planning method for the whole year, a month by month map, my massive action plan. And then week by week, day by day, it takes a few minutes a day to do it. A few minutes. So for those people who set a New Year's resolution and don't check in on it, they don't really have much of a chance. For the people who check in on once a month, they've got 12 times as much of a chance of actually following through with success. For those who check in every day, they've got 365 times more chance of following through. You gotta track your progress. And last on the list, there is that. So many of us seek social approval. We want other people to approve our ideas. We want other people to approve our ambitions. We want their approval. And often that means we come to someone with an idea. Oh, I'm thinking of doing this. I'm thinking of changing careers. I'm thinking of trying this. I'm thinking of getting a coach. I'm thinking of going to an F45 class. I'm thinking of volunteering at the local soup kitchen. Or I'm thinking of executing on a business idea. I've had people go, don't be silly. Somebody else has already done that. You're too busy for that. Hey, you've got other things. You could be doing with your time, people will more often than not shoot you down. Challenge you. Play devil's advocate, right? Don't ever seek anybody's approval on your goals, your dreams, your visions. They are yours and yours only and if people want to support them, great. Don't give people an opportunity to shoot them down. So go get it. Get planning for 2021, 2022. Wherever you are right now, start planning for the future and start thinking about it with intention, with vision and treat it like a marathon. Life is not a sprint. Hey guys, if you enjoyed the content today, please smash that subscribe button below. And if you want to become part of my community, I've got an amazing free Facebook group. Please come and join us. The link is in the description below. And also if you've got any questions about today's session, I'd love to know. Just comment below and I'll be sure to get back to you guys. Have the most amazing day.
