Why New Years Resolutions don’t work - first published December 2007

How many times have you made a New Years resolution only to give up your resolve a couple of days later?
How many times have you pledged to give up chocolate/smoking/biting your nails/go on a diet/join the gym but never got past January 31st?

Every New Year’s Eve millions of people just like you resolve to make the next year their best year yet. Every year they look back with disappointed that another year has come and gone and they haven’t kept their resolve.

Why is it then, that even though resolutions rarely succeed, we still make them year in year out?
I think the reason most resolutions fall short is because most people lack the understanding of how they work.

Here are some reasons why traditional resolution setting doesn’t work, and what you can do to overcome them.
1. Most resolutions are made at the very last minute of New Years Eve without any consideration which makes them hard to take seriously.

Give yourself enough time to define what you really want for yourself. Who said resolutions had to start on January 1st?
2. You don’t write them down
The physical act of writing will help you to commit and focus on what it is you really want to achieve.
3. You think negative thoughts
When we state that we want to stop smoking or stop eating sweets our unconscious mind filters out the word stop or lose and focuses on the smoking, eating sweets, etc.
When you write down what you want make it something you really want to run towards rather than away from.
4. You don’t set a date
Give yourself a deadline. Again it helps you focus on what you want to achieve. So, instead of saying: I want a new car, you say, I want a new car by May of 2008, or whatever year you are thinking about.
5. You try to run before you can walk
If you were going to climb Mount Everest you would make several smaller climbs first. Like wise, set yourself small achievable steps and reward yourself every step of the way.
6. You don’t take action
Change must come from within. What you believe about who you are will determine your success or failure every time. When you change your mind, you can change your actions and your future.

Did you achieve your goals for 2009

Well, did you?

I've really enjoyed the last couple of weeks. I decided to slow things down quite early this year because I wanted plenty of time to reflect on the past year and plan my business strategy for 2009.

On reflection I was amazed just how much I had in fact achieved whether on a personal level (to run 10 miles non stop in The Great South Race) or in my business, (rebranding and relaunching my company, doubling my client base , running my first set of teleclasses.....)

One of the reasons I achieved so much was because of my commitment to life long learning, OK I admit it I am a serial life long learner, nothing to be ashamed of. During 2008 I have attended various seminars, workshops, training courses and read endless books and I don't plan to stop now I have come so far.

One of my mentors recently said, "The day you stop learning is the day you stop earning." so true.

So with the New Year just over a week away, what commitment are you going to make to your continuous learning in 2009?

See your continuous professional and personal development as an investment, and if you really struggling to come to terms over the cost of a year long mastermind programme, just start small, seek out just a couple of local events and commit to that or set yourself a goal to read some business development books.

You will be so pleased you did this time next year.

3 Things you need befroe you start your business

last week I was atttended a local business start up event and one of the participants who had been hovering at my table asked me, “What are the 3 most important things I need before I start my business?”

What a great specific question - 3 things, the answer though, I think depends on the individual. All I could do was share my experience and in my case it wasn't very easy to just give three ideas, but these are the 3 things I came up with .

1. Have clarity about what you are offering
2. Do your research, really get to know your market place
3. Make sure you are well supported – from both family and friends and someone who can
assist you in the development of your business

Don't let fear get in the way, start with the resources you’ve got from where you are today. You can always tweak things as you progress. Work on your strengths, you will need plenty of persistence, passion, and buckets of self belief. Running your business can be a great challenge and also very rewarding.

Do you agree? What would you have advised? Let me know.

Planning Your Business Strategy for 2009

Okay I know we haven’t quite reached the end of the year but how much consideration have you given to your business growth and development for 2009? A lot? A little? Any?

Why not join me tomorrow evening 9th December at 8pm for a FREE teleclass that will really get you thinking about where you want to be this time next year.

On this call I’ll be sharing...

***3 tools that you can implement as you plan and prepare your business for 2009***
***the key to making your business bigger and better***
***The vital questions you need to ask yourself ***

This call is my gift to you. I really want to see you do well in 2009 and make those dreams a reality. This is my way of saying thank you for your support and help.

Make sure you don’t miss out by emailing me today allison@allisonmarlowe.com in return I will provide you with the call details.

I look forward to ‘seeing’ you on the call.

Do you see problems as a negative?

You may have gathered I haven’t made a blog posting recently and that’s because I have had a few technical problems. It happens to even the best of us. None of us are immune to adversity, but even then we still have a choice. We can either accept what’s happening as part of the process or become discouraged.

I know for me, without being able to rely on my trusty computer, twice within the space of a fortnight I experienced a sense of loss of control. How was I going to manage my emails? How would I be able to send out that important follow up message? How could I arrange this that and the other when all the information I needed was on that computer? Well the thing is we do survive, we do get through periods of difficulty however difficult they feel at the time.

The trick I think is to bounce back quickly, take responsibility rather than blame others and maintain your self belief. The sooner you can learn to do this and accept that problems or events in your life are actually happening to help guide us, bring us more or new opportunities to learn and adjust our thinking the sooner we will be back on track.

Norman Vincent Peale once said, “There is only one group of people that don’t have problems’ – and they are all dead.”