Does the thought of making New Year’s Resolutions just make you want to roll around the floor laughing uncontrollably and maybe just a little bit cynically?

Do any of these pathways sound familiar?

• Start off strong then life intervenes and we lose focus and motivation
• Successful for a little while but then quickly slip back to the old ways
• Don’t even bother starting if our track record hasn’t been successful!

Previously I’ve always made my resolutions on my birthday. I felt it was more in line with the energy of focusing on myself at that time (hello week long festival of Daniela!) Was I any better at keeping my resolutions? Honestly? Probably the same amount of success others had with New Year’s Resolutions.

Something needed to change. I needed to do something different.

There’s something to be said for the energy around at the start of a new year. It’s the end of a twelve-month cycle and there’s a newness and cleanliness of having a fresh new year spanning out in front of you. The slate is clean; you have the chance to begin afresh, anything is possible. The start of last year also coincided with a new moon. Most of you will have heard me say the energy of a new moon is all about starting new projects or commencing a new focus (full moon = letting go of things that no longer serve you). So with all that in mind, I decided to try making New Year’s Resolutions again, but this time I was going to make them work!

Here are my top 5 tools for making my resolutions stick:

1. Danielle La Porte’s Desire Map

I know some of you have heard me talking about Danielle’s LaPorte’s Desire Map process in clinic lately. Danielle has a unique way of creating goals without necessarily creating checklists of ‘things to do/achieve.’ A great ebook to get you thinking about goals from a different perspective.

Click on the image or here to find out more.

2. Leonie Dawson’s Amazing Year Workbook & Planner

Some of you may have heard of the lovely Leonie Dawson and her fabulous workbooks which come in a Life and Business editions. Each year for the past five years she has created these online workbooks & planners to help you plan for the year ahead. If you’re a visual person like me, they are just heavenly to look at. Loads of colour, beautiful monthly calendars and planning tools to help you review the previous year and lock in your goals for the coming year.

Click on the image or Check them out here.

3. Without this step, nothing is ever achieved

If it’s not scheduled in, it doesn’t happen. Simple. I’ve had a long and lustrous relationship with my calendar, which started back with my school diary. Then the upgrade to a Filofax, a Palm Pilot and finally my electronic calendar on my iPhone and iMac.

At one particularly busy time of my life, I was; running my own business, seeing clients, teaching kinesiology, working in corporate, spending time with family, friends and my partner.  Without my diary, it would have been impossible to manage.

I have 12 different calendars all colour coded and everything I need to do or remember is added:

• current school holidays,
• public holidays,
• Mother’s/Father’s Day (I learnt this one the hard way when I booked a workshop on Father’s day one year!),
• workshops I’m running or attending,
• daily action items,
• client sessions,
• social engagements,
• business planning sessions,
• exercise,
• annual retreat time,
• holidays.

I even used to block out time to spend with my boyfriend before my work/life boundaries were more defined!

4. Is it working?

The only way we can tell if we’re achieving our goals are to track and review them. One or two of our large goals may have been broken down into smaller, more achievable steps. We’re not going to know how we’re tracking on the road to achievement if we don’t take time out to review our activities. Break out your calendar again and add in weekly, monthly, quarterly (whatever period suits you best) review sessions. It doesn’t need to be an all day affair; just 30 minutes can be enough to:

• Check in with how you feel things are moving along
• What have you achieved?
• What is still outstanding?
• Are there any unforeseen blocks that you need to address?
• Are you still on track to meet your deadline?

These review sessions are now in my calendar monthly with quarterly ones thrown in.

5. I feel like there’s something important missing….

I’ve created deeper, more fulfilling goals – check. They’re scheduled into my calendar – check. I’m reviewing them regularly – check. Oh wait! What if there’s something else blocking my achievement? Something I’m not even aware of? Enter….Kinesiology! Of course Kinesiology is one of the most effective tools at helping you achieve your goals and dreams. Removing any emotional, mental or spiritual blocks is critical in being able to align yourself to what you want to create in your life. Why not pop in for a session so we can work together in creating your most successful year yet?

How are your Resolutions tracking so far? Help me feed my organisational addiction and share your ‘can’t live without’ tips and tools in the comment box below…