Yep. It’s that time of year again. It’s time to think about what we want to achieve in 2022. Whether your goals are physical, emotional, spiritual, professional, or community related, the key is that you actually write them down. As our colleague Jen Magnuson pointed out in a previous post, Neuroscience explains why we need to write down our goals if we actually want to achieve them. In fact, people who vividly imagine or describe their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 more times likely to succeed at keeping them than those who don’t. Making and keeping goals can make us feel happier and more confident, and who wouldn’t like some more of that? Yes, yes, we know that Covid-19 and its Omicron minions will do what it can to distract us from our goals, but it cannot stop of us from trying.

 

And while writing down our 2022 goals is important, so are the daily steps we need to take to achieve them. In The Checklist Manifesto , author Atul Gawande advocates for the importance of checklists in our highly complex lives. Whether you’re a physical paper checklist person or a digital one (think Todoist.com or Evernote), the key is to develop the habit of using checklists to organize your day, your week, your month, and your life.

 

 

Speaking of habits, another great read as you contemplate your 2022 New Year’s resolutions is The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. It will help you understand how habits come to be and arm you with the steps to take to create and destroy habits needed to attain your goals.

 

 

To change habits that are not serving you well (e.g. eating sweets after dinner), Duhigg lays out the following framework:

 

  • Identify the routine (this is your habit loop)
  • Experiment with rewards (e.g. substitute fruit for sweets, take a walk, stream a special show, etc.)
  • Isolate the cue (what triggers the habit…e.g. boredom, the surge of energy from the sugar, etc.)
  • Have a plan (these are your “implementation intentions” — how you are going to change your habit)

 

If one of your goals is to have more time for things such as your children or spouse, fun with friends, or exercising, we can help. Our Tools help you organize groups and events quickly and eliminate the need for follow-up reminders and mass emails. Time saved organizing work groups and activities and/or community or schools groups and activities translates to more time for you to spend the way you want to.

 

 

Good luck and we wish you a fabulous 2022!