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Well happy New Year to all! 2010 was filled with many ups and down, but I can say that I don’t remember there being too many downs. I’ve seen a lot of ups and I foresee many more ups to come in the new year, 2011. We all know what every New Year brings; the good ole new years resolution. For many people, it’s a perfect opportunity to start fresh, wipe the slate clean, and move forward. We look to leave the last year behind us and we move ahead into a brand new year, with brand new opportunities.

Sometimes we are very good at completing our goals, but sometimes we fall off the wagon and don’t know how to get back up. So how should we set and stick with goals?

Set goals…but set them before or after New Years.

Why should you set goals not on New Years? Isn’t New Years a great opportunity to start something?

In short, the answer is no. Here’s why…

Statistically, a great majority of people who make New Years resolutions and start their goals on New Years fail. We get excited about a goal, start it off, then a lot of people end up losing motivation and just give up until the next New Year. We tend to have this false premise that our big goals should start around the New Year. But to help yourself out a little bit…

Set your big goals before or after the New Year

Instead of going a long with the crowd, stand out from the crowd. How? Start laying out your goals well before New Years and start on your goals before the New Year. Even a month or two before. So say you start out with your goal, I’ll take the common losing-weight example, in November. You plan to lose 30 pounds in a few months by doing an exercise program and eating healthy.

When the Holidays roll around, maybe you’ve already lost half of that weight. Well by the time the New Year rolls around, you will be well ahead of everyone else. That’s right; you have a head start on your goals over everyone else. Not only that, New Year provides a great opportunity to get re-motivated so that you ‘get your second wind’ and tackle the rest of your goal (losing that weight that you have left) in no time, and with new-found motivation.

Setting your goals before or after New Years makes you independent.

If you think about it, by making it a point to set your goals different from New Year, you are being independent. You are doing things your own way on your own time, rather than what society says you should do. So if someone asks you what’s your New Years resolutions, you can proudly state that you’ve already started on your goals, and if you decide to start a few months from now, you can proudly state that you are careful to go against what people say you should do and start your goals later on when you are more prepared.

Now, in conclusion I’d like to state that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with setting and starting goals on New Years day…it works for some people. But for those who are looking for a little change, go right ahead and do things on your own time. You might just find that setting goals before or after New Years will provide you with the wherewithal to tackle your goals!