Here we are. The end of another year.

Did you accomplish the goals that you set for yourself at the beginning of 2015? Did you set goals for yourself to accomplish in 2015?

How would you like your life to be different this time next year than it is right now? New job? More savings? Better relationship(s)?

If you don't set a goal for these dreams, it is unlikely that you will achieve them in the next year. Actually, without committing to making changes, it is unlikely that you will achieve your goals, period.

Why is that? Well, put simply, if you don't know where you want to go, how do you expect to get there?

“I'llknow it when I see it” is not a good enough answer. This response takes away all of your personal power (except for you power of observation) and places you at the whim of any and all elements that can derail each of our lives everyday.

Without setting an endpoint in the future, you leave yourself directionless in the present.

Let's take a simple example, one that is common in New Year's resolutions: “I want to lose weight”.

OK. Great. Now what? Where do you go from here? What exactly does this statement mean?

Does it mean that you'll forego that dessert when it is offered by your friends at the next party, or are you more inclined to be social and accept an extra 300 empty calories into your body rather than standing up for yourself and your health? Which driver is more important to you?

Be honest with yourself now. There is no wrong answer here, just a realization to accept. To what are you more committed, friendships and socializing or standing for your goals and winning for yourself? If you answered the former, you can now see why previous attempts at weight loss may have failed, possibly multiple times.

Make thisyear different. Choose to win for yourself.

Here are five key points to affirmation writing to help you be successful in your New Year's resolutions. We'll look at each individually and then add them together so you can create powerful resolutions for your success.

1. Be Specific – The example above, “I want to lose weight,” is not specific. How much weight do you want to lose? It's a good starting place, but doesn't tell us where we want to be in the end. If you lost one pound, you would be successful with this goal, but that's not what you want is it?

    State your goal clearly. “I want to lose ____ pounds” or “I want to weight _____ or less.”

 

2. Be Positive – Don't write your affirmations in the negative. Our subconscious mind tends not to hear the words “no” or “not”.
    
    In our hypothetical example of losing weight, let's say you choose to remove cake from
    your diet.

    Do you say, “I will not eat cake”?

    Read that sentence again. What's the first thing you think of doing after you read it?
    Probably eating cake.

    By writing in the negative, we focus on the thing that we wish to remove instead of focusing
    on where we want to be in the future.

    A more powerful statement would be, “I choose to eat healthy desserts such as fruit”.

3. Be Present – Write affirmations using the word “Now.”

    If you write, “I am going to lose 20 pounds in 2016,” when exactly are you going to lose it?
    Will you do it over the course of January and February, then slowly gain it back over the rest
    of the year? Technically, by the affirmation, this would be success – you did lose the weight;
    you said nothing about remaining at your new baseline.

    Or, will you stay at your current weight until October, then cram all of you dieting in over the
    last 10 – 12 weeks of the year? Again, this is technically a success. But what happens in 2017?

    Make your goalpresent, “I am now on my path to losing ____ pounds,” or “I am now
    actively taking steps to weigh _____ or less.”

4. Be Timely – Not only do we want to be present, we also want to have an endpoint so we hold ourselves accountable.

    Set a realistic end-date for your goal.

    A healthy rate of weight loss is 2 pounds per week. In the example above, 20 pounds would
    take 10 weeks. Look at a calendar and count out the time it will take to reach your goal.
    Circle that date and commit to it.

    “On or by _______, I will weigh ___ or less.”

    If your goal seems to large to accomplish, break it down into smaller, manageable benchmarks.
    Let's say you want to lose 60 pounds – that's 30 weeks of time, over half of the year. That is
    a big goal and one that can easily be derailed because the end date is so far out in the future.

    With your eye on that larger goal, set smaller benchmarks of 5 or 10 pounds at their dates so
    you can hold yourself accountable in the short-term and still have an eye on your
    long-term success.

5. Be Bold –  Shoot for the stars. You can achieve anything you believe about yourself.

    Consider this, there are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic time-frames.

    Looking at the example above, if your goal is to lose 60 pounds, and you start on
    January 1, 2016, it would be unrealistic (and unhealthy) to set a your target date as
    March 1, 2016.

    If in 30 weeks, you have lost 50 pounds rather than 60, be proud of you achievement. Do not
    worry about those remaining 10 pounds, you've accomplished five times that already. Those
    extra 10 don't stand a chance over the coming month.

How do these five points all come together in creating powerful affirmations for your success? By using these keys, your affirmations will read something like this:

“I am now on my path to losing ___ pounds by ________”

“I now choose to eat healthily.”

“On or by ______________, I will weight __________.”

“I am now actively taking steps to weigh _____ or less on or by _____________.”

Use the outline to createyour affirmations for your specific goals.

If you need additional help in reaching your goals, consider hypnotherapy to overcome any blocks to your success. How do you see your Whole. New. YOU?

Visit my website, to see how I have helped others achieve their goals.

Contact me and let me know your plan for achievement in 2016.