Introduction

If you are thinking that this post is very late, then you are god damn right, but the good thing is that I can invent rules to justify my behavior, and in this case is not just used as a cheap excuse (I swear) but rather as something I have thought long ago “Why do we need to plan all of our new year goals in one day?” It is not just better to think carefully about them? I mean, they will literally determine how our next year is going to be, why do we take that carelessly? The reason is that we do not actually care about what we are saying, oftentimes we will only talk about them to get some positive reactions and to go along the traditions while we fill our mouth with green grapes (or at least that is the way I do it in Mexico).

But I do think that these new year goals can be something extremely beneficial. We have a tendency to be extremely motivated in the beginning of a new pursuit, it is also commonly advised to plan thinking in the first arbitrary period of time to start something -for example starting a new routine on Monday or on the first day of the month.

In a certain way new year is the best date of all to plan these goals: you have time, you have motivation and you have a complete new year ahead of you to accomplish all you want. To me it sounds like the ideal context to actually improve and find more meaning in your life.

If you are curious about what I am about to say then keep reading, remember that you are always free and invited to put your feedback in the comment section.

The 3 main principles

I like organizing my thoughts in principles because they show very explicitly what is going through my mind each time I write something. In this case the 3 principles that sustain this mental model are:

• Flexibility
• Specificity
• Realism

You can skip the explanation to get to the actual mental model if you want, even so, I do not encourage you to do so unless you already know what I am going to explain.

Principle 1 – Flexibility

A year is a very long period of time. We often overestimate and underestimate what we can do in a year. Our judgment and expectations are intrinsically imperfect. We need to humble ourselves and accept that many, if not most of what we are going to plan is not going to happen the way we want.

So, in your goals and your systems you need to accept and even seek the change. It will be uncomfortable and even frustrating -particularly if you suffer from a potent optimistic bias- but it will be surely worth.

Principle 2 – Specificity

Another effect on planning on such a long period of time is that we are very vague. We do not put clear limits nor standards of what we actually want to accomplish.

Leaving our brains with unjustified uncertainty is a mistake. We need to stablish clear boundaries to identify what we are doing and what we are seeking.

Principle 3 – Realism

This will be probably be the most difficult principle to master. Reality itself often is determined in our personal lives as a direct consequence of what we believe. Calling something objective is surely a big risk considering our innate and permanent subjectivity as human beings. But we can thrive for something more alike.

If we learn how to expand our perceptions we can literally change how we interact with reality. Realism is not about searching the ultimate truth, rather is being aware of what we can do and cannot do *now -*being now subject to constant change.

To the more scientific or specific of you I actually have a word that I like more to explain this principle: Metacognition, what we know about what we know.

Blueprint to create better goals.

1. Brainstorm

First of all, you need somewhere to write. I like a piece of paper and color pens but you can use whatever you have in your direct access.

Brainstorm a list of things you would want to have. It does not matter if it is to vague -we will correct that later- or “stupid”. Keep writing until you run out of ideas or you are simply tired.

For example my brainstorm list looks like:

-Improve my clothing – Improve my haircut – Lower my fat weight percentage – Expand my social circle – Win more money – Be there for the ones I love – Eat healthier – Sing better and so on.

2. Goal setting

If you have a very long list -like 25, 30 or more items- I recommend you to reduce it to about the 20 most important ones -for the twelve months of the year. If your list is not that long -less than twenty items- I recommend you to continue.

Now I want you to go through each one and set an specific goal. The best specific goals are binary ones: you only need a yes or no to know if you succeeded or not.

If you have not exactly 12 goals do not worry, this is why flexibility is one of the principles. You can have a number different that 12, nonetheless I encourage you to have less than 12 because in the large course of the year you will probably discover and crave many different improvements, so I prefer to leave some space for them (I have currently 8 goals). In this case, less is better than more.

Because I am a fan of systems and in most of my goals I decided to commit to regular deadlines to track my progress, these are the examples:

• Do a saving goal of 10 USD every month to buy clothes
• Take a picture of my face every week
• Take a picture of my current physique every week
• Write at least 500 words every day
• Talk to at least 2 strangers at every new social encounter

3. System building

Now, this is where the real magic occurs. For every goal you have you must create a specific routine that entails what you will be doing to accomplish it. I recommend keeping it short and easy -most time choosing the easier option is the most realistic form to ensure consistency- about 2 to 5 points for each. Note that you can reduce or increase the actual list as times goes and you become more familiarized to your routine.

Here are my routines so you can use them as inspiration:

Facial habits: – Mew everyday – Swallow with the tongue in every meal – Do chin tucks

Food habits: – Do intermittent fasting – Eat 2 to 3 fruits everyday – Drink water before eating

Blog habits: – Plan a publication date for each post – SEO – Do promotion of every post

Close circle habits: – Send a nice message every significant date – Contact them once a week

And so on… I will write an entire post of my actual new year goals list if you do not have enough inspiration with the examples I have provided.

4. Prepare for trouble

Consistency will be surely the hardest challenge you will confront, that is why being realistic is very important, nonetheless life will inevitably throw you out of balance some day, that is why you also need a backup plan.

To be honest I do not like to be very deliberate in what I will be doing if the circumstances go wrong with most of my habits, I only do it with the most important ones, and I encourage you to do the same. You need to think what are the most important reasons why you fail to hit a target and find ways to solve them.

For example, going to the gym is arguably my most important habit, so I have pre – workout for when I am really fatigued, I always have clean training clothes and I always try to find some time so I can work out with ease. By doing this I am much more likely to be consistent no matter the situation.

For all of your other habits a simple set of rules is more than enough. I personally use:

• Never miss twice (If you failed to do something today ensure that you do it tomorrow).
• Finish all your work (If you want to skip work for one day is okay if at the end of the day you have finished all your work)
• Partial is better than none (If you truly do not feel like it commit to do only a part of what you normally do)

Finally, if you find that you just keep forgetting or are not motivated to do the work think if:

• Your goal does actually align with your values?
• You have an specific and well delimited time and location to do the work?
• You know exactly what you have to do?
• It is not the task to big? Why not break it into parts?
• Is the cue for triggering your habit obvious enough?
• Does the reward not motivate you? What if you increase it?
• Is not the routine to hard? What if you give you a bit more rest?

Summary

New year goals are normally wasted in vague conceptions of what we think but that does not mean that we have to follow the pattern. Find meaningful goals that will make your life better and commit to them following the 3 principles, which are: realism, specificity and flexibility.

Remember to follow your values, your gut and your judgment. If anything happens remember that you should never miss twice, you can accumulate your work so you create rest days and that doing little is better than doing nothing.

If you have trouble following your routines ask questions like “Do I know exactly what I have to do” and keep going until you find the answer of why you are not doing the job.

Without nothing more to say, goodbye!