I’ve figured out how to make it easier to achieve a resolution.

Three tactics are involved:

1.     Focus on one goal at a time.

Set aside everything else you want to do for now.

The secret to achieving goals and resolutions if you ask me is sequencing each goal in order from easier to achieve to harder to achieve.

Choose as the first goal the one you’re most likely to achieve.

This will give you confidence to tackle other goals and will boost your self-esteem.

Refrain from piling on multiple sub-goals along the way. You’re not an octopus who can reach for multiple items at the same time.

2.     Reward yourself for little victories as well as milestones.

To reinforce the positive behavior of having gone to the gym 2x/per week I bought myself a new doormat. It’s a cheap and cheerful pick-me-up.

3.     State your goals and resolutions publicly to members of your change support team.

In my life I’ve found that by globally recording my resolution in the blog I was able to force myself to go to the gym 2x/per week.

The one week I couldn’t do this was out of my control. Yet more often than not if you ask me a person does have control.

Holding yourself accountable to others is a foolproof way to actually do what you say you’re going to.