Articles & Newsletter

Every month, browse articles on key leadership topics in our electronic newsletter.

January 2008,

What would you like to create for your business and yourself in 2008?

We’ve just entered a new year, and it’s a wonderful time to make a fresh start. Have you asked yourself why many people make New Year’s resolutions but don’t make a commitment and so never accomplish what they set out to do? Well, begin by envisioning next year as your year! The article in this month’s newsletter should help you from there. It should take less than 10 minutes to read, and I encourage you to take the time to write down 3 resolutions and plans of action you can take now to move on the right direction to make this year your best year ever.

How To Keep Your New Years Resolutions

by Lea Belair - Agent of the Future

How can you make the start of your new year a real start toward the future you want? Studies show that about one in four New Year's resolutions is broken after two weeks. It’s clear that what we need in order to keep our resolutions is more than change, we need sustainable change. One way for you to make a change that lasts is to look at your New Year's Resolutions in a new way. As I'll show you, it's easier to stick to your New Year's resolutions if you look at any change as evolutionary not revolutionary!

When we want to make a change we often ‘see’ ourselves in the future as we would like that future to be – whether the goal is to reach a healthier weight, become financially secure, overcome an old habit, start a new career or attract a new relationship. As a coach and Agent of the Future, I often suggest that my clients start by seeing the goal as already accomplished. However, trying to make radical changes to get to the future we want can quickly derail our efforts.

Radical change or revolution is a sudden, casting aside of the past in order to bring about something new. (Think: French Revolution.) The same is true about establishing new habits, behaviors, or frameworks of thinking. Just thinking of bringing an aspect of you under the knife of the guillotine is stressful! When you decide to make a change that is sudden and drastic, without a firm foundation to support you over time, you naturally struggle and give up. Radical change is not sustainable. On the other hand, evolution is a step-by-step process, using what ‘is’ as the basis for something new. (Think: Darwin.) Personal evolution is the process of creating and unfolding new patterns. See change as a continuum built on a strong foundation that supports you in taking the next step. When you take one step after another in the same consistent direction you make progress and use strengths you already have and reach your goal.

The first step in making an evolutionary change is to have a clear intention to do something differently, or create a new pattern. Intentions tap into the field of energy called ‘the flow’ that opens the space for something new without the stress of a revolution. That’s because intentions redirect our focus, allowing us to identify old patterns, choose to see things differently, and take new actions.

In addition, in making evolutionary change that is sustainable it is important to have our environments support our intentions. Environments are the things that surround us in our every day life, such as our physical environment, our environment of relationships, and our environment of thoughts and emotions. Environments can happen accidentally or intentionally. Intentionally crafted environments help us to continue to make consistent steps forward toward our goal by supporting our new patterns of thinking and behavior. Environments define us and we define our environments. Pick one thing in your environment right now and ask yourself what it says about you. Did you put it there intentionally? Does it resonate with what you value? Does it help or inspire you? Or, does it make your life more difficult?

One of my friends told me how he wanted to read at home but never seemed to get to it. Was it that he didn’t have the time, or perhaps the energy? Let’s look at the problem from the environmental standpoint: he had the intention to read, but what about his reading environment? It turns out he didn’t have a cozy chair or a well lit space for reading. Once he changed his physical environment to include the cozy chair and put a good standing lamp next to it, viola – he was reading at home without the struggle of having to find more time or energy!

Supportive and inspiring environments come in a variety of forms, whether physical, mental, or spiritual. Whatever the environment, you can craft it intentionally. Here is a fun and easy way to help you to create an intentional environment to support and inspire you in keeping your resolutions in the New Year

1. Gather 25 pictures from magazines, newspapers, and photos that remind you of your intentions. Create a collage and hang it in an appropriate place in your home. If your New Year's resolution is about food, hang your collage in the kitchen; if it’s about relationships, hang it in the living room or bedroom; if it’s about money, and hang it next to where you keep your money paraphernalia.

2. Put a pen and paper by your bed. At the end of each day, for at least one week after you hang up your collage, write down what you noticed about your intentions. Did you remember them? Did something unexpected happen? Did you learn something new? After a week you can keep this practice if you still need support in keeping your resolutions. Or, you can invent another way to remain inspired by your environment. Music, smells, and things you can touch that remind you of the future you want will work with your subconscious mind to keep you on track.

Set yourself up for success. Instead of making change a stressful and frustrating task, take the evolutionary, step-by-step route. Taking even one small step at a time with intention and purpose moves you consistently in the direction of what you want and sends a strong message to the universe that will magnetize your future vision to you! As we evolve, with the support of our environments, we naturally begin to thrive in change.

Lea Belair is a personal and business coach residing in Vermont. This article is based on the distinction Revolutionary vs. Evolutionary in her breakthrough book Walk on Water: How to Make Change Easier which focuses on practical things you can do to support your changes. Walk on Water ©2005 Change Agent Press is available at www.walkonwaterthebook.com.

I know you've enjoyed the newsletter as much as I did. Please share it with your friends, family and co-workers. We appreciate referrals, so please keep us in mind when you are talking with friends and business associates.

Warmly,

Marlene Gonzalez
Life Coaching Group, llc
President
www.lifecoachinggroup.org