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Having a New Year’s goal is a lot of pressure. It also unreasonable. Eighty percent of people fail to follow through on their resolutions by February.
Common goals are quantitative:
- I want to lose 10 permanent pounds
- I want to travel to Mexico City
- I want to save $90 a month
These measurable goals can be achieved by you alone. The more specific the goal, the better. You can make a plan, set a path and track your progress.
We assume that once we achieve these goals, we will finally be happy.
Other goals are a bit more complex to achieve, and cause us the most doubt in ourselves. Let’s call them complex goals:
- I want to get promoted this year
- I want to be in a serious relationship this year
- I want to get pregnant this year
These goals are more stressful, in that they depend on many factors. They rely on the opinions/decisions of others. They also rely on factors outside of our hands, such as timing and plain old luck, that are beyond our control.
When complex goals are not accomplished, we tend to blame ourselves for not doing enough to achieve them.
