Forget the Resolutions, Make Goals!This is the time of year when everyone is talking about their New Year’s Resolutions. I decided a few years back not to make resolutions. To me, resolutions seem too close to rules; “I will go to the gym every day. I won’t eat sugar.” I don’t do well with people, even myself, telling me what I can and cannot do. I get this urge to rebel which sabotages my good intentions. But I still have a thing I want to accomplish. So I have decided to forgo the resolutions for goal setting.

Goals to me, are more of destinations that I am going to. Just like a map on a long journey shows you all the places you need to go through before reaching your destination; long term goals, short term goals and actions steps direct us to get where we want to be and mark our progress along the way. We may need to take a detour or stop for a rest, but by focusing on our end destination we will eventually get there.

Harvard did a study back in 1979 where it asked their MBA students about their goals, specifically if they had them and if they were written. They found that only 3% had written goals, 13% had goals that were not written down, and the remaining 84% had no goals. 10 years later they interviewed those students and found that the 13% who had goals were earning on average, twice as much as the 84% without goals. Even more amazing, the 3% with clearly written goals were earning on average 10x more than the other 97%. This inspires me to find time to make written goals!

As a case manager I am embarrassed to admit that the first time I wrote my goals, that is all I did. I was good at making long term goals, short term goals and actions steps for my patients, but somehow I didn’t think to transfer that to my own life and career goals. When I finally put it all together I began to see the benefits. When I broke my long term goal of obtaining my CCM certification into short term goals it became much more manageable and much less overwhelming.

So my suggestion is to forget the resolutions, make goals!

I would love to hear about your goals. Leave a comment below.