As the clock ticks towards midnight on the 31^st December millions of people stand glass in hand ready to shout “Happy New Year” and declare, at least privately, their intent to make a change or two in the coming year.

A survey of 300,000 Americans by Gary Ryan Blair – The Goals Guy, listed the Top Ten New Year Resolutions as:

1. Lose Weight and Get in Better Physical Shape.
2. Stick to a Budget.
3. Debt Reduction.
4. Enjoy More Quality Time with Friends and Family.
5. Find my Soul Mate.
6. Quit Smoking.
7. Find a Better Job.
8. Learn Something New.
9. Volunteer and Help Others.
10. Get Organised.

But how many of these New Year Resolutions are actually followed through? Last year fifty eight percent of Americans younger than forty five vowed to themselves that they would improve an aspect of their lives over the next year. Forty percent of these people didn’t keep their resolution at all, and sixty percent only kept it for part of the year.

Did you make a New Years Resolution this year?

It is true that the start of the New Year for many is a time for some introspection and personal analysis. From this period of reflection ideas and intentions are developed but often, as the statistics above demonstrate, this is as far as it all gets.

What a shame! Why does this happen?

Possibly the enthusiastic and often genuinely heart felt ideas that are thrown out on the ‘high’ of New Years Eve, in the cold reality of day on the first of January seem overwhelming and therefore more depressing than inspiring.

Another reason for resolution failure is that often people link resolutions to the things that they feel they “should or shouldn’t do” rather than those that they really want to do! Feeling a sense of duty is hardly the best inspiration for success. How many times have you found yourself saying “I will not eat chocolate in January” and then find yourself doing exactly that two hours later!

Now, I need to emphasise here that I am not against goal setting – far from it! In fact I am very much in favour of a good stock take at the start of each year. This is exactly the time to review where you are and consider how it matches up with where you want to be in all aspects of your life.

Change is good, well thought out goals and objectives are inspiring and so if you intend to make some changes and want to keep yourself on track then follow the recipe below and enjoy resolution success in 2011:

Recipe:

• One bag of ideas.
• Clear inspiring and stretching goals.
• A list of reasons why?
• An image of how you want it to be.
• A supporter to help champion your cause.

Instructions:

1. Identifying your priorities.
Write down your ideas for 2011. Think about each area of life that is important to you, areas may include your career, family, social life, personal development, health, fitness, environment, community, financial situation and any others that hold meaning and relevance to you.

What would you like to change, achieve in each area?

Which of these are the most important areas to you – prioritise?

2. Write your Goal clearly.
Take priority number one and identify what you want to achieve and by when?

Now write a sentence that tells you exactly what you will have achieved by a specific date. Be BOLD and give yourself permission to write goals that will take you out of your comfort zone. If they don’t inspire then they won’t transpire - my motto for you in 2011.

3. Ask yourself ‘why?’
Ask yourself:

“What makes this so important to me?”

Ask yourself this question five times in succession and you will uncover what it is that will really motivate and inspire you to success in this area.

4. Now consider what will happen if you do not achieve your goal? How will you feel? Write these thoughts and ideas down.

5. Visualise – think about your goal and imagine what your life will be like when you have achieved your goal. What will you be doing? What will your life look like? What will your success feel like? Write this all down and keep returning to re-read. Perhaps even record yourself reading your vision and re-listen frequently.

6. Now go and share your goal and intentions with someone else who you can trust to be your champion, someone who will ask you how you are doing and encourage you when times get tough.

7. Talk through any potential obstacles with them and identify how you will overcome those obstacles. Then focus your mind on success.

8. Write your goal and vision down and place it somewhere where you will see it daily. Revisit it regularly, remind yourself of why it is so important to you and how you will feel when you achieve your goal.

9. Take small actions regularly that will help you to move towards achieving your goal. Trust that you WILL find a way.

To your Success Abroad in 2011!