I’m a planner. I like to have a plan for everything I do. So goal setting and new year resolutions are of course an annual tradition for me.

Unfortunately, even though I am great at setting goals I’m not great on following through with them. So while I can’t tell you how to accomplish all your goals this year, I can tell you some ways to guarantee you will fail at meeting them.

5 ways to guarantee you won’t keep your New Year’s Resolution

Set to many

It is good to want to improve in a lot of areas of your life. However, it is not very effective to try and focus on so many different goals at once. As much as we all wish we could be excellent at multitasking it is much more productive to focus on just one thing at a time.

Last year I narrowed my goal list down to twenty items. Can you guess how many goals I have this year? Well, they are the same twenty goals I set for myself last year.

When you focus on everything you are almost guaranteed to excel at nothing.

So if you want to have twenty goals then have twenty goals, but if you want to actually accomplish them, try focusing on just a few. Then once you have completed those goals move on to the next item on your list.

Make them too general

Some of my goals from last year included eating healthier and keeping the house clean. What do those tasks include?

These two goals could be interpreted in many different ways by different people.  If you don’t know what your goal includes, does it really matter where you end up?

For one person eating healthier may be eating less fast food. While another person may want to eat only whole organic foods.

If your aim isn’t specific your results won’t be either.

Don’t have a plan

Perhaps your goal is specific. Maybe you know that keeping a clean house means the house is picked up every evening and each room is thoroughly cleaned once a week. If you don’t have a plan you are greatly decreasing the chances of this actually happening.

If you were headed on a trip it wouldn’t be enough to head out the door with the address of your destination in your hand. You would want to have a map and step by step directions.

If you are wanting to meet a specific goal the same strategy applies. Before you begin you want to have every step mapped out that you will need to accomplish your goal and decided what order you will accomplish these steps in.

If on the other hand, you want to work towards the same goal year after year like me, don’t make a plan. Even with the best intentions life will probably get in the way and push your goals behind the daily tasks life throws your way.

So while you may start your journey out strong, without a map you will most likely just circle the block a few times before realizing you’re lost, heading back home and resolving to try again another day.

Don’t commit

If you really don’t want to accomplish a goal, not committing to it is the easiest way to do that. Change is hard. In order to make a permeant and positive change in your life, you need to have the motivation and drive to do so.

You won’t be able to stay committed to a goal that you kind of, maybe, might want to accomplish someday.

If you want to meet your goal. Set a deadline. Schedule in your calendar when you will accomplish each task to get there.

Tell someone you care about it and have them help keep you accountable. Also, keep yourself accountable. Keep focused on what you want to accomplishes and don’t let life sidetrack you.

If you want to meet your goals commit yourself to them, and let it be known you’re committed to them. If not, just hope that you will meet your goals and maybe, someday, you kind of will.

How do you keep yourself committed to accomplishing your goals throughout the year? I would love to hear please comment and share!