How to Create Your Best New Year’s Resolutions Yet

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New Year’s resolutions are often discarded by the end of January because we are not willing to create them from a different point of view. What if your resolutions for 2018 were a playful way to engage yourself to stop hiding from what you truly desire and create more joy and possibilities? Here are five keys to flipping New Year’s resolutions on their head so that you create the right ones for you.

Create fun resolutions. A common mistake when creating resolutions is recycling failed ones from previous years. This undermines your mindset from the start because your focus is on fixing old failures. Where is the fun in that?  Another risk of recycling old resolutions is they may not be relevant to the person you are now. Rather than creating resolutions based on the past, what if you flip it totally and choose resolutions based on present-day you and the joy you would like to create now? To create a worthy resolution, ask:  What would be fun for me to create in 2018 that I haven’t considered before?

Create no more than 3 resolutions. Make a maximum of three resolutions and don’t make them too specific.  For example, instead of, “I want to lose 10 pounds”, create a resolution like, “I would love to feel great with and about my body.” Then explore multiple ways to achieve it, such as: What judgments of my body could I change this year? What ways can I nurture and care for my body that I hadn’t considered? What new activities could I try? You can still include losing weight, but if you broaden the focus of your resolution, you expand the playing ground. Choose three or less resolutions so that you make them count and you give yourself room to play and explore them fully throughout the year.

Make your resolutions targets rather than goals. Setting targets rather than goals creates more freedom and flexibility. Goals lock your focus on specific results with no room for variation; targets can be moved and changed as you change, and you can shoot for a target many times over.  If your target is to increase your income, you can shoot for a specific job, but you can also consider other income streams and investing your money in ways that are fun for you.  With goals, you fixate on outcomes and will judge yourself as a failure if you don’t create that exact result. When you treat resolutions as targets, no single point becomes significant, and there is space for unexpected benefits to show up, too!

Be willing to do and be something different. A lot of resolutions don’t work out because we aren’t willing to be different than the year before. To create something different this year, ask questions for each resolution:

• What would I have to be or do different for this to show up in my life?
• Who can I talk to and where can I go to make this a reality?
• Where am I hiding or playing small with this? What else could I choose?
• What actions can I take today that will allow this to show up in the future?

Say you desire to grow your business: are you willing for your business to be seen and heard? Are there areas where you are hiding your business? What could you choose, who could you talk to and where could you go to expand your business’s presence in the world?

Find a friend who has your back. Everything is easier if you have a friend who truly has your back.  Some days will be easier than others as you go for your true desires.  Find a friend or mentor who truly desires for you to succeed and who will remind you of your greatness during the more challenging times.

Creating a resolution that is right for you is about expanding your life so that it is fun to live it!  What do you desire to create that would make 2018 great for you?