One of my friends wrote on Facebook:

Seeing as I always seem to do the opposite of my new year’s resolutions: this year I’m going to smoke and drink more, exercise less and go far deeper into debt.

So that raises the question: Should we formulate New Years resolutions – yes or no?

The answer is: It depends.

  • NO: If they are unrealistic and vague.
  • YES; If they are routed in your personalty and values. And specifig.

key to really good new years resolutions is to answer three questions10781_729423323778946_4837512137458538047_n

  • WHY? Why should I do this? In what way would it enrich me and/or the world?
  • HOW? With what kind of attitude and what values?
  • WHAT? What exactly do I want to do? What is the specific plan?

One of my resolutions for 2017 is

[WHY] I believe that I can and should inspire people in the world with writing. [HOW] So I want to reliably and diligently work on improving  [How exactly] by spending the first two hours of every office day with writing and reading books or taking online courses that will help me improve my skills.

In a nutshell:  All general resolutions usually are of no value. And you can kick them out and plaster the way to hell with them as we say in German. Because not fulfilled resolutions tend to make you feel frustrated, shameful and so on. We all do not need more of these hellish feelings.

But good, resolutions who are anchored in your personality and deepest needs really empower you.

And yes, for those who recognize the basic idea – it was adapted from Simon Sineks Ted talk How great leaders inspire action.