We are in the fourth month of the year, which means we have finished the first quarter of 2022. How have you been doing on your New Year’s resolutions and goals for this year? Have you totally fallen off the wagon? Have you made some progress and then fallen backward? According to research by YouGov in 2019 hre are the success and failure rates for those of us who have set goals for this new year:

Success/Failure rates over the first 6 months

• Of those who make a New Year’s resolution, after 1 week 75% are still successful in keeping it.
• After two weeks, the number drops to 71%.
• After 1 month, the number drops again to 64%.
• And after 6 months, 46% of people who make a resolution are still successful in keeping it.
• In comparison, of those people who have similar goals but do not set a resolution, only 4% are still successful after 6 months. 

The problem we have seen with many men that keep them from following through on the goals they set is that they have a distorted view of what success looks like. Success is not as clear or linear as most of us have defined it. Many people have the image below when we think of making progress on our goals:

Progress Is Not Perfect

If you are like me, then when you look at the above image you may feel a bit jealous or even frustrated. You may be thinking to yourself, what an easy path that man had, he set his goal and made progress the whole way until he achieved his goal. That is not reality though, if this is what people are telling you, it is a lie, if this is what you believe, then it is holding you back from leveling up your life! Here is what success really looks like, if you stay committed to long term thinking versus short term thinning: 

The Big Problem With Thinking Progress Is Perfect

When people have this false image of how progress towards goals should look, they are more likely to throw in the towel and quit when things are not going “the way they should be”. Let’s say you started this year with a goal to get back into shape and lose 15lbs of fat. Maybe you came out of the gates the first few weeks of January with high energy and lots of momentum, but then you caught a cold or your work required you to travel which totally messed up the routine you had established. This is the point most men just say, “forget it, I already messed up, it’s not my fault, I’ll restart next week.” But you and I both know the chances of them “restarting”, which by the way is such a daunting task, is very unlikely.  

The 3 Steps To Ensure You Make Progress On Your Goals

If we want to make progress on our goals then we have to first destroy the old paradigm of how we view progress. We need to recognize along the path of becoming the best version of ourselves and achieving our goals there will be some days that are not ideal, but we will still make progress those days. Here are the 3 Steps to ensure you stay on the path to achieving your goals:

1. Long Term Thinking – Instead of just setting your short term goals of 30, 60 days or even a year. What if you said to yourself I am going to be committed to this goal for 5 years? What type of results could you get if you committed to something for that period of time? This time frame will also help with feeling like a failure everytime you don’t execute perfectly on your activity towards a goal. 
2. Sustain & Super Activity – The best way to stay on track with the highs and lows of progress towards your goals, is to give yourself room to be human. Clearly identify what the activity towards your goal looks like on days when you feel like you can conquer the world. Then clearly identify what the activity looks like on the days you don’t necessarily feel 100%. Both these are now viewed as progress, and this plan will help you sustain the long term plan and goals you have set for yourself. 
3. Partner Up – The above two are vital to maintaining progress towards your goals and achieving goals you thought would never be possible. However I personally know the power of being accountable to another brother along the journey. Ask a brother you trust to join you on your journey. Give them permission to nudge you when you are sacking off and celebrate with you as you both make progress. If you don’t have someone you can turn to or you don’t feel comfortable asking the men in your life to help  you get better. Join the HeRose 5-Day Challenge Facebook Group where we are constantly pushing each other to get better.