How to execute on your New Year resolutions

In the beginning of the year a lot of us make resolutions and set goals. An optimistic post-holiday version of ourselves sets a strategic direction for that busy and overwhelmed version that takes over the rest of the year. And everyone, who worked with strategy, knows, that execution is a completely different beast. Same works for the New Year resolutions.

So here is are some things that help to close the gap between intention and action:

𝟭.   𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝘄𝗵𝘆” 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱  ✨ 

 What will it give you? How would you, your team, family, planet benefit from it? A clear “𝘄𝗵𝘆” gives your goal meaning and lets you see more opportunities to actually get there.

𝟮.   𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 🎯 

 Tie intention to your actions. Saying “I’ll get that promotion” is exciting, but unless you’re the one making decision, there are no guaranties. Focus on actions you can take – building new skills, showing up, prioritizing. Break big goals into smaller steps to make them less scary, and also – to be able to do something towards your goal every day or week. 

𝟯.   𝗣𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 📈 

 Perfection does not exist (please, don’t tell this to my cats). What matters is showing up consistently. A good rule in building new habits is that you don’t skip twice. For example, you can miss your language class today, but you commit to the next one. 

And doing something is better, than doing nothing. Hour of exercise is wonderful, but 15 min of that are still better than 0. Even if you skipped the last time. 

𝟰.   𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 🎉 

Give yourself a pat on a back whenever you move towards your goal, no matter how tiny the step is. It will keep you going. Also, in the Monday post you’ll find “Amsterdam Bakery Radar” that will provide you with 22 places to get a treat for your celebration!

𝟱.   𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 ✂️ 

 To add another goal or task, it would be helpful to get rid of something else. It is useful to check where your time and energy goes. A typical question would be – what share of your time goes towards your goals vs else? 

Yet, there is another interesting lens to look at that – what share of your time goes towards things that you do not control, like worrying about that annoying colleague’s comment? Would be great to use this time for something else. 

In the end, it is you giving a promise to yourself. This means that there is some space for negotiations, but also someone truly important is waiting for the result. What was your resolution or goal this year? 🦄 

Unicorn makes a New Year Resolution