As 2017 approaches, I wanted to get some advice on how to achieve your goals for the upcoming New Year.

The new Year! Yes, everything will change. I’m going to improve my diet, lose 100 pounds, quit smoking, walk and exercise more, lower my cholesterol, quit drinking so much, be nicer to people and blah blah blah.

We’ve all been there one year or another, wanting to make changes, sometimes we do, for a couple of weeks, and then we relapse back to where we were before the New Year. Then, disappointed, we can try a mid-February ‘resolution’ or a mid-year resolution, whatever motivates us to make that change.

The question is why do we wait for the New Year for this to happen. We don’t need to name it, or wait for a particular time of year, we need to “just do it”. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that people don’t really like change.

We enter our own little bubble, and we are in our ‘zone’, our ‘comfort zone’. That’s where we feel safe, it’s not perfect, but hey, it’s what we’ve always done and we know it well or badly, we own it. We are deeply sorry that others tell us that it is not healthy, that change is good.

The truth is that life always changes. Life is a series of small steps that move us forward. Most people don’t like change, but really life is constantly evolving. Always moving forward, whether we are ready or not. The change happens.

Some people hate change and resist it on a daily basis, generally those who resist are suffering because they know that their resistance is in vain, change will happen whether you like it and accept it or if you hate it and continue to resist. If you doubt this look in the mirror, it has changed from last year and the year before. Life evolves without your permission or approval.

Obviously the only way to stop change is to die, but wait, that’s the biggest change of all. Maybe small incremental changes aren’t so bad after all. Every day and every hour it presents you with changes. Regardless of our acceptance or denial, we are constantly changing, evolving, growing, and expanding.

So if change is a common daily occurrence, which happens to all of us, regardless of our desire to accept it, why not make decisions for our changes?

Move in the direction of change without fear, without resistance to it, and most importantly, move towards change with purpose, passion, and focused intention, with a solid idea of ​​your direction and goal.

1. Clarify your objective in writing, be exact. This is your destiny.

2. Pick a date in the future. (It doesn’t have to be New Years Day.)

3. Take a couple of weeks to think about it, familiarize yourself with the idea that things are going to be better (generally healthier).

4. Write your plan; focus on those daily steps to succeed. This is your roadmap.

5. Be reasonable. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Be kind to yourself.

6. Make it measurable, be able to measure how you are doing it.

7. Set smaller goals to measure incremental steps (How to eat an elephant? One bite at a time).

8. Give yourself a reward when you achieve your goal. Do it well!

9. Some people enjoy having a goal partner, someone who is on the same path, but you will have to decide for yourself if it is the best for you.

10. Most important: Take five minutes in the morning and at night to close your eyes and visualize yourself already experiencing your goal, feel it, see it, be it. Imagine being there, where you want to be, having already reached your goal.

11. If you mess up once, go back to the plan! You don’t fail until you quit!

12. Congratulate yourself and set your next big goal!

Remember, change is coming whether you like it or not. If last year’s resolutions are the same as this year’s, you may have more weight to lose.

Isn’t it better to decide for yourself what changes you would like to make? If you want help reaching your goals, no matter what time of year it is, hypnotherapy may be the little extra help you need to get over that hump and slide downhill.