If you're like most people, your new year's resolutions are anything but a path to long-lasting positive change. You make a resolution, stick with it for a couple weeks before letting it lapse, and then beat up on yourself for not being able to stick with it. 

Instead of setting yourself up to fail (and let's face it, that's what most people do with their resolutions) by expecting magical change in one fell swoop, take a different approach. 

Rather than a flick-of-the-switch change, look at your resolution as a year-long project. Take action on it, but don't assume that your current decision to make a change will be enough to power it forward through long-term integration into your life. 

Instead, commit to doing the work to integrate it over the next year. In all likelihood that integration process will have its share of backsliding. But think about it this way:

If every month you take two steps forward and one step back, by the end of the year you will still have taken twelve steps in the right direction!

To support your project, here are some ideas to keep in mind. 

Set up monthly checkpoints

When you make your resolution a year-long process, it creates the opportunity to check in on a regular basis. Once a month, stop and take a look at how things are going on your resolution. Ask questions like:

• How well am I doing?
• What do I need to do differently?
• Where am I falling down? What can I do about that?
• What is getting in the way of my progress? What can I do about that?
• What support do I need? Where can I find it?
• What knowledge do I need? Where can I find it?

Look at your experience as research and development. You work on implementing your resolution for a month, and then bring it back into the lab to look at how it went.

What can you learn from the experience so far? What's going well? How can you build on that? What is challenging? What might you do to overcome that?

Checking in once a month lets your learn from the process. It also gives you twelve built-in chances to get back on track when you wander. 

Create accountability

One of the benefits my clients find in my coaching is accountability. Knowing that someone is going to be asking about what they have committed to do adds an additional incentive to actually do it. 

The same is true any time we express our commitment to something to someone else. It's much easier to let something slide when you're the only one who is watching it lapse. 

Is there anyone in your life you can use as an accountability partner? It could be as simple as checking in with them once a month to update them on your progress, what you've learned, and how you plan on moving forward. 

Find a partner

While we're on the topic of the value of incorporating others into your efforts, you might want to find someone who can be your resolution partner. In this case, instead of just you creating accountability by reporting in to someone, you partner up with someone who is also working on their own year-long resolution project. 

Acknowledge your progress

Finally, acknowledge your progress as you move forward. Spotlight your successes. Recognize the steps you have taken in a positive direction. Give yourself credit for those positive steps, without taking it away with a yeah-but focused on where you haven't been up to snuff. 

Reward yourself. Praise yourself. Ask someone else to give you kudos. All too often the only feedback we get from ourselves is a kick in the ass when our efforts fall short. How motivating is that? 

Trying setting up a reward system where you get a reward each month if you meet certain goals. For example, if you're cutting down on sugar, treat yourself to something special each month you hit a target goal (like 25 days out of the month where you keep your sugar intake within a set range). 

At the end of the day, real change takes time. Making your new year's resolution a year-long project will make that time an inherent part of the process. 

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by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst