https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/12/22/21/39/new-years-day-1926337_960_720.jpg

 I’m not really a big fan of this kind of resolution, for the simple reason that a year it’s a long time. And a lot of things can happen in 12 months. 

I think this is the first mistake that we do when we do our new year’s resolution. We make a plan for the whole year. And we don’t take into account the very big period of time that we are just planning. If you are not used to making plans regularly (weekly, monthly, daily) you’re gonna have a bad time starting directly planning a whole year. 

This is why I usually just draw some lines, some beacons of light to guide me for the whole year. And then I start my planning. And I plan for the next period, 3 months, 6 months if I’m a little bit adventurous. But at the moment 3 months, it’s the best that I could do. And at the end of these three months, I check where I’m at and go back to the drawing board. 

So now that we have set our beacons of light, we have drawn the end of our road, it’s time to set up the road. 

# Step 1: Quantify your goals. 

At first you probably wrote something like, *I want to lose weight* or *I want to make more money*. Or something similar to this. 

Now go a step further and add *I want to lose X Kg*. You could go even a step further and add a deadline. Make that goal **SMART** (**S**pecific, **M**easurable, **A**ssignable, **R**ealistic, **T**ime-related). *I want to lose X Kg by the end of May*. (you want that beach body ready, right?). 

Your goals must be realistic ok? So set them to be realistic. 

*<center>The reason why I chose to go with the weight loss goal, it’s because it’s one of the most used goal for the New Year’s resolution. So I’ll just continue to go with it. </center>*

# Step 2: Add actions to reach your goals. 

Now that you have your goal, it’s time to add actions to it. One of the steps in making a plan, that many people skip, it’s that you don’t add the fking **actions** to it. This is why by the end of March, you throw out of the window the resolution you made in December.

So let’s add some actions. We’ll continue with the weight loss, if you don’t mind. 

Depending on how many kilograms you want to lose, maybe you will need to visit a doctor. Make the appointment.

Maybe you will need to hit the gym. Don’t just make the gym membership and that’s it. Mark on your calendar the days and hours when you will go to the gym. 

Having just the goal doesn’t take you anywhere. **Results are achieved only by taking action**. 

# Step 3: Break down your goal in smaller goals. 

As I said, a year it’s a long time. And If you are not used to make long term plans, your New Year’s Resolution it’s nipped in the bud. 

Break down your goals and actions into smaller parts. Go with them on monthly, weekly and daily basis. 

This way your plan won’t seem that hard to achieve and it will look more easy to do. 

# Step 4: Start working on it today.

Don’t wait for the next year to do something about your goals. What you could do today about it? How about right now? Go and do something right after you have read this article. 

**Do it now.**

Have a great 2017.

*if you liked this article, and want to see what is going through my mind in 2017 please follow me @sstefan. I will try to keep it entertaining and fun to read*