One research from University of Scranton suggests that just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals.

Another research done on people of Seattle (Aged 18-66) shows that 67% people make more than 3 new year resolutions.

The questions is, why people are confused about their goals? And even if they decide, why most of them fail? – 92% fail to achieve their goals.

I tried to understand this behavior, especially with respect to new year resolutions. I failed for two consecutive years as well with my own resolutions. Third year – I was partially successful, fourth and fifth year I was able to achieve what I targeted in the beginning of the year. One resolution was to read 52 books in 52 weeks and I achieved that for two consecutive years. I also helped around 10 people to achieve their respective goals as well.

Based on my experience and research I can see two hurdles.

• Lack of Clarity: Most of us are not sure what we want to achieve. We set goals mostly due to peer pressure or social nagging. In both of these scenarios – we lack inner motivation.
• Lack of Focus: Once we decide a goal – we set unrealistic targets. We do not break them down into mini-targets and hence our goal becomes very vague. We can’t focus on something which is not tangible.

That’s about problem, hurdles. But, can we resolve them? Can we set a realistic target where we can find inner motivation and achieve them too. The answer is – Yes. We can do that. Here are few tips that will help you –

• Start with setting up a goal that you want to achieve rather than what your peers or your society wants you to achieve. For example – If you are happy about your body (even if its little on the heavier side) don’t set target to reduce weight. If you are happy about your job / salary – don’t set target to change for better salary.
• Start with one goal, one target at a time. Don’t set many goals as that may confuse you.
• Break down your target into mini-targets that are achievable and that has a deadline. For example – I had a target of completing 52 books in 52 weeks. Every week I had a target of completing one book.

Feel free to reach out if you need more information / help. Wishing you good luck with your new resolution!

#GyanKiBaat #LearnToLead