Goals Versus Resolutions

Every year so many people list resolutions for the next year. I am of the opinion that resolutions aren't usually successful.  I, instead, feel strongly that Goals are the proper way to go.

Resolutions are generally habits that people will try to do every day, or habits they will try to avoid for as long as they can. Unfortunately, many resolutions are forgotten in just a couple of months (or less). 

While resolution shows a wonderful sense of positive intent, a truly believe a better alternative is to develop new goals for the future.

Even the definition between the two are pretty distinct, imo:

Resolution:

a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

Goal:

the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

I love goals. I started to enjoy them even more after reading Dare to Win many years ago (by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen).

The key with goals is to make them realistic. I remember one year I had a goal to get Most Improved Player on a tour in the 90s. Boy, I learned my lesson! I had no control over that - someone else decided that "title" (and no, I did not win it, even though I came close).

Goals are important because they give you that something extra to strive for, to look forward to, to plan for, etc.

An important key for goals is to ensure you are specific about how to reach your goals. I don't always do this well, but as an example, if someone says, "my goal is to lose weight," the person will be more successful if they list specifically how to achieve that goal.

Goals are a better plan than resolutions for a few key reasons that I found searching the Internet:

Rigid vs. Fluid:

Resolutions seem to have the same flavor every year, like: “I will go to bed by 10pm.” “I will stop eating junk food.” “I will go to the gym five times a week.” If these are somewhat big changes, it may feel like a huge change with no buildup. Goals, however, can be tackled in steps, beginning with baby steps and increasing in difficulty as you become more accustomed to the change. This makes goals more realistic for lasting change.

Sense of Accomplishment vs. Sense of Failure:

Goals give you a direction to aspire to, but with the baby steps you may be taking toward your goal, you can still feel like you’ve accomplished something and are on the right track. Once you’ve broken a rigid resolution, however, it’s easier to feel like a failure and give up.

The Scope of the Change:

Resolutions are usually a means to a goal, but if you find a resolution too difficult to stick to, it’s usually dropped and forgotten. With goals, if you find a change too difficult to carry out, you can drop that plan, but pick a different new behavior to try that will still lead to the same end result. For example, imagine you want to get in the habit of exercising to be in better shape. You might make a resolution to go to the gym five times a week. But if you find that you just hate the gym, you probably won’t stick to your resolution, and you’ll be no closer to your goal. However, if you make ‘getting more exercise’ the goal, you may drop the gym, but switch to walking through your neighborhood each morning, and still meet your goal.

Now that you've read some of why resolutions could fail and why goals are a more realistic route, here are some tips I found for setting goals:

Think in terms of broad changes rather than specific behaviors.

For instance, resolving to “Develop A Stress Management Practice” gives more room for growth and change than “Do Yoga Every Morning”. While you’ll want to put your broad goals into specific behaviors, deciding to Develop a Stress Management Practice gives you room to experiment, and allows you to change course if you find that Yoga isn’t working for you.

Think in terms of what you’d like to add to your life, rather than what you’d like to take away.

For example, instead of making the goal to “Eat Less Unhealthy Food”, focus on trying to “Eat More Healthy Food”. You may subconsciously feel more deprived if you think of taking something away rather than adding something good, and if you replace unhealthy food in your diet with healthy food, the same goal is accomplished. Also, it’s usually easier to add a behavior than to stop a behavior.

Keep goals in the forefront of your mind. 

Keep them listed in your day-planner, have them as part of your screen saver, or post-it them in prominent places around your house for a while.

Rewards.
Reward yourself with something small for continuing to stick with it, until you make enough progress toward your goals that the progress becomes its own reward.

And remember that change doesn’t come overnight, but as you work toward developing what is important to you, the change will come, and it will be lasting. Remember this, and enjoy building the life you were meant to live!

(excerpts from About.com)