By Susan Robertson – January 17, 2012
As we embark on the New Year, many of us make personal resolutions or vows to change behavior.
In January, most health and fitness centers are nearly full with people doing their best to kick-off a commitment to get in better shape. By February the crowds have diminished, as people drop out in spite of their good intentions. Folks like to grow and develop, to improve in some way to achieve higher levels of personal satisfaction, but most drop their resolutions long before they get the rewards.
Self-leadership is an important aspect of personal and professional change. Self-leadership means understanding what we need to do to create a desirable outcome for ourselves. Self-discipline is applying personal accountability for behaving in a manner that is aligned with our intentions for improvement. As we grow our self-discipline and act on our goals, we reinforce awareness of the value of delayed gratification as a powerful tool in achieving goals and long-term happiness.
If you have challenged yourself with New Year’s Resolutions, here are some tips to increase your chances of success.These steps work any time you set goals for yourself. If you can remember to create, be self-aware, have clear goals, plan well, and reward yourself, you can succeed in becoming the type of leader and person you would like to be.
Finally, remember that we can’t be perfect everyday. It’s important that we maintain balance. Think of behavioral change as improving your batting average; if you improve every week, knowing that you will have set backs, over time you will build good momentum.
