On Monday we had our first meeting of 2015. With it being Happy Creative’s 10th year in business we set ourselves some ambitious targets to achieve by the end of the year. At first it may have looked like quite an overwhelming task but we all came to an understanding that in order to accomplish this we all needed to be at our best. This was followed by a series of questions of what being the best means to you, how it makes you feel, what do you see yourself doing when being the best? Naturally I felt a lot more enthusiastic taking part in this exercise over setting new year’s resolutions that I’d most-likely fail at come March.
Right now it’s January meaning it’s that time. The beginning of a brand new year. Pop into your local gym and you’ll notice how crowded it has suddenly become. You go out shopping and to your surprise someone has cleared out the fruits and vegetable aisle. And finally walking home will mean bumping into what I like to call the ‘Resolution Runners’. Yes, for a lot of people January means making a New Year’s Resolutions. Habits they’d like to give up. Goals they want to achieve and generally doing things that may be boring but will ultimately benefit them in the long run.
Some people stop making them after their last attempts fail horribly. This kind of failure on a grand level has ramifications. It drains the person of any confidence they had in the build up to this and makes them question their abilities in a very negative manner. This might sound very pessimistic to some but let’s look at this realistically.
When it comes to setting yourself personal targets it becomes a quite a burden to change your tried and tested methods. It’s human nature to continue performing the same routine that doesn’t work rather than trying something new that COULD work – but could also fail. It’s the fear of failure that makes us switch on the TV instead of educating yourself with online tutorials or disregarding your fitness plan whilst you silently promise yourself that you’ll start your diet tomorrow. Think about your resolutions last year. Did you follow through with any of them? How long did you last? Do you even remember what they were? Yet you continue making them every year so what exactly are you doing wrong?
There are a number of things that you can do to improve this. Let’s say that for example you wanted to start eating healthier this year. Simply saying that you are going to start eating healthy foods isn’t enough for your mind to go on. What your mind is doing is similar to that of a child eating candy in a classroom when the teacher isn’t looking. He knows he’s not supposed to but every once in a while he’ll cheat the system. Instead be more specific by using a system of questioning each step of the process. Write out a diet plan, work out how many meals you’ll eat in the day, how many calories will that be in total? Dieting and exercising go hand in hand. Will that also be part of the regime? How will you measure your success every month? Just by simply asking yourself these questions and providing an answer will give you the specific data you need to get started. You can even go as far as saying “On Monday I will start on ______” “By Wednesday I will do five _______” On Sunday I will have done _______”and so on.
Believe it or not that is the most difficult part done. When procrastination kicks in it is usually because of your lack of desire to do something. Taking the first step is the hardest part of the process. But once you’ve done that (the questioning system) you’ve got the ball rolling and set in motion a deadline which you will feel more obligated to follow. A helpful tip: If there is a list of things to do then write them down and do the hardest one first. Naturally it will be tempting to put off the most difficult task towards the end but all that does is mount more pressure and create panic if you run out of time.
So start your list now. Grab a pen and paper and write down what you want to achieve and then break down that list into manageable tasks for each day. Set realistic goals and enjoy what you do. Don’t waste anymore time reading blogs about How To Be More Motivated or 20 Steps To Beat Procrastination. Here’s a tip, if you’re reading 5 different blogs on procrastination then you’re only adding to the delay.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison
Hakim Shujaee is a Creative Thinker and Designer at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
