5 Secrets to Making Resolutions Come True

Saturday, January 03 2015

I don't know about you but I like writing down my New Year's Resolutions every year. Typically I'll write them out by hand (I know, who does that anymore?) and place them in a "secret place" that's nothing more than a mini treasure chest located on my tall dresser in my bedroom.

Over the past couple of years I've been experimenting and I've noticed something that I think will blow your mind about why certain New Year's Resolutions come true while (most) others don't.

I've been doing the "secret treasure chest" thing for the past several years. What I do is write a page worth of New Year's Resolutions -- that with 100% conviction, I want to see come to fruition -- and place them in the chest, not to be peeked at for the entire year.

Weird, I know.

This totally goes against the old "motivational guru" strategy of tacking your goals and desires on your bathroom mirror to view and read multiple times a day.

Why do I refuse to look at the list for the entire year?

When you look at a goal several times a day, it's very easy to feel depressed about not having the goal yet or not making any progress toward the goal. This makes you feel miserable about that desire and drives it away from you faster than pulling it toward you. Eventually you become frustrated with the goal, tell yourself that it's not worth it, then that dream dries up and blows away in your mind as you continue marching to the beat of someone else's plans for your life...even convincing yourself that "it's not so bad." (I'm referring directly to any goals having to do with financial freedom.)

However, when you make your list of very clear and concise goals and dreams then put them away, you are basically ordering your subconscious mind to "make it happen" while not putting any pressure on it for making it happen now or in a certain way or by a certain date. It'll happen when it happens, ideally by the close of the new year, of course.

I don't have a 100% success rate doing this. No. (Sorry. I wish I could report that I did.) But my success rate is a consistent 70%.

How is it always 70%?

Because I never write more than 10 goals. Ten is the maximum. And I accomplish 7 out of 10 every year, year in and year out.

If you ask me, getting 7 out of 10 things you ask for each year is pretty freaking good. Don't you think?

Okay, so let's analyze the rules of success for New Year's Resolutions:

1) You must write down a list of your goals and dreams in your own handwriting (instead of typing then printing them out) and they must all fit on one piece of paper (single or double sided).

2) Your goals must be clear. "I want to be rich," isn't a goal. It's a pipe dream. It's unclear and non-specific. Being rich could mean having $500 and living in Guatemala while everyone else there has nothing. So, a realistic goal could be, "I'll reach a $10,000 a month bottom-line passive income cash flow with multifamily real estate by the end of 2015." That's specific. Also, avoid goals that don't really have measurable parameters like, "I'd like to be a loving mother and wife." What the hell does that mean? If that's your goal, add some clarity to it to define what being a "loving mother and wife" actually means.

3) Your goals have to be realistic. An unrealistic goal: "I'll win an Oscar for Best Picture in 2016 based on a movie I write, produce, film, and release in 2015." Not gonna happen. It's impossible. Another unrealistic goal: "I'll buy 1,000+ apartment building units with no cash and no credit in 2015." While acquiring 1,000 units isn't unreasonable, it usually takes about 3 years to pull this off. Start small and overshoot instead of going too high then psyching yourself out (thus doing nothing for the goal because it's too impossible to undertake). A realistic goal: "I'll acquire 100 multifamily units by the close of 2015." Another realistic goal: "I want to lose 20 lbs. and tone up to a bikini body by the summer 2015." This is totally realistic unless you weigh 700 lbs...then it may need a bit of tweaking to work out better for you.

4) Do not exceed 10 goals. You don't want 15 or 20...or more. It just confuses your mind and overwhelms yourself into inaction. If you can whittle it down to 5 very clear and concise goals, even better.

5) Fold your paper and stick it in a "secret place" where you won't look at it and nobody else will find it. You are forbidden to look at the piece of paper until the last day of this year. (That would be December 31, 2015.)

Now, once you put that piece of paper away, it's time to start what I call the "immersion" process right away. Immersion means picking one or two of those goals and start getting involved in making them happen. Talking about it will get you exactly nowhere. But doing something about it -- even if you're not sure it's the right path to take to get there -- will bring you to the goal.

You see, the universe loves action. So, even if you start working on something that may actually be the wrong path, the universe will "right" your path almost immediately after you start moving in some direction.

Case in point: I had set something (which I can't tell you yet) forth in motion last July. It was "forgotten" as far as I was concerned. In this past October, I started my MFA program for Creative Writing at UCR. I wasn't (and I'm still not) sure what (if anything) I will be doing with creative writing as far as a "career" goes but I wanted to "immerse" myself in (a) the world of writing with others who are passionate about it, and (b) start moving into some direction because I got tired of sitting on the fence about it (for the past 20+ years, mind you; anyone sitting on the fence for that long can get crotch rot or something much worse).

A month ago, I went out to my first 10-day residency in Palm Springs for this graduate degree. I wasn't there for not 24 hours before someone (and I won't tell you who...yet) contacted me about this one "thing" (which I'll tell you about soon) I did in this past July. Yes, it has to do with writing. No, it has nothing to do with creative writing, which is why I was at the residency last month.

What does this have to do with anything?

When you start "immersing" yourself or taking serious action into the direction of some goal that you have passion for (yet may not be sure about how you'll pull off or if it's the right direction), your path will not only become immediately illuminated for you but you'll have people falling into your lap to help you on this new "righted" pathway.

Yet none of this happens with inaction and indecision.

So, when you write down your very clear, concise and believably-attainable goals and desires, don't worry if they're not the right fit or if you're not sure you're making the right decision (or worry on how you'll pull it off). Pitch your coin into the wishing well and then take whatever steps you believe will help right now. Let the universe do all the "heavy lifting" for you including offering guidance into a new (or better) direction when the time comes.

Again, nothing will happen unless you prove to the energy gods that be that you are serious enough about making your goals happen by moving into some sort of direction of execution of your written "contract" you made with yourself (i.e. your New Year's Resolutions in your secret location).