Will your new year goals fail?
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Towards the end of the year, I usually start to hear people talk about their new year goals. They are willing to make a change in their life but decide that right now is not the time. For some reason, January 1st seems like a date that will ensure the goal is achieved. I have personally always liked the saying “If not now, when?”. If I see something in my life that I want to or need to change. When it comes to making self-improvements. Now is a better time than later. Most people also are set up to fail the new year goal before it has even started. The goal is missing the necessary structures to give it a higher chance of longevity and success.
I recently completed Atomic Habits (link) after it was recommended to me by Rui. It very quickly went into my top 10 books list. It is a short and practical read that provides a framework to ensure you are on the right path to hit your goals. I wanted to write about a few takeaways that will help with setting and achieving your goals. This system will even allow you to add a few extra goals on the list so you can cover your career and your health. You can achieve more in 2019 through small changes to your habits.
"Get 1% Better Every Day, Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement"
Atomic habits simplify goals and the small steps required to achieve them. The idea here is to create atomic sized habits for yourself. If you can get 1% better each day over the next year, you’ll be 37 times better by the time you’re done.
One. Forget About Goals. Concentrate on Systems. Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results. Winners and losers have had the same goal but the outcome is different. Here are some key areas to focus on to determine the difference between improvement or standing still.
"Ask yourself, who is the type of person that could get the outcome I want"
Two. Start with your identity. When we focus on the goal itself we overlook the 2 other important aspects. The process to achieve the goal and our identity. Your identity can be a statement like 'I am not technical' or 'I am not into fitness'. This frames your mindset and works against you. If you set a goal to be more technical or become healthier then you need to identify as the result. I am currently changing my vocabulary from 'I am trying to eat healthy' to 'I eat healthily'. My identity to myself is someone who avoids bad foods where possible. My identity is then formed through evidence. If I avoid bad foods and go for a run 3 times this week. I prove that I am healthier. Providing evidence that you are more like your identity then your previous identity helps build atomic habits. Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.
In a work context, this could be 'I am no good with the commercials'. Changing your identity to identify as someone that is learning the business side. Then setting 3 by 10-minute slots in your diary to review the dashboards and discuss them with a colleague. Each time you carry out the atomic habit will build your new identity.
So, decide the type of person you want to be and move to create processes to action your atomic habits.
"Goals are the results you want to achieve, Systems are about the processes that lead to those results"
Three. The Habit Loop. Atomic Habits states that habits follow this cycle: cue, craving, response, reward. Whenever you want to change your behaviour, simply ask yourself:
How can I make it obvious?
How can I make it attractive?
How can I make it easy?
How can I make it satisfying?
Four. Make it Obvious. Now that you have set your identity you need to start forming your atomic habit. They are called atomic habits because they are small. Your atomic habit is not going to the gym or reviewing the dashboard. That is too vague.
You want your habit to be obvious. I need to be at 9am on Tuesday and Thursday I will review the dashboard for 10 minutes when I get to my desk. Use the formula "I will [behaviour] at [time] and [location].
Five. make it attractive. You already have a habit that you enjoy. So, you want to leverage that as a reward for carrying out your new habit. After I review the dashboards I will go and get my morning coffee. You can also reverse it by getting my morning coffee I will drink it whilst reviewing the dashboard. This almost tricks your brain into carrying out an extra action which over time will form as a full habit.
Six. Make it as easy. You don't start with the notion of "I need to review every report in the dashboard". You would start with 1 report and ensure you can achieve it in under 2 minutes. If it is going to the gym it would be "When I wake up I will put my runners on". Or "When I get on the train I read one short business article". It is the atomic action which forms part of a process.
Seven. Make it satisfying. You are more likely to repeat it if you found it satisfying. Somethings take a long time before you see results. Understanding the full dashboard could take 4 weeks. Seeing results in the gym could take 3 months. So, you want to create a quicker reward system for yourself. This will increase your chances of repetition which increases your chances of achieving things longer term. It could be "If I eat well for 6 days, I get 2 cheat meals on Saturday". "If I can write down one insight from the report I will get a coffee with a colleague.
Using these seven points it will certainly get you on your way to a new year and a new you, without setting vague and hard to achieve goals. Once you have mastered these you can move on to chaining your habits to multiply your gains from atomic habits. Remember the key is to keep them small and minimise the friction to get started.
"Success is the product of daily habits - not once in a lifetime transformations"
Note: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.