Beyond New Year’s Resolutions: Power in Pursuit

We all know the drill. On January 1st, the resolutions get trotted out: a healthier lifestyle, a better job, a new relationship. We declare our biggest goals for the future. It’s just what we do at the top of the year, right?

Except there’s a problem with these mega-goals—it’s a long journey from where we are to where we want to be. And you can’t simply state your destination and be teleported there instantly. Like a road trip across the United States, you’ll need fuel, road signs, and steering to get where you want to go ultimately.

In my work with elite performers in sport, business, and the military, I’ve seen a lot of big goals. The championships at the end of the season, the big fundraising pitch, the key mission. These are all noble and worthy things to strive for, but I would never tell a student-athlete to focus on “winning at the end of the year.”

Because to get there, he has thirty other games to win first. He’ll need to eat well, sleep well, and form a bond with his teammates. He has to incorporate feedback from his coach and do well in his classes. There are many stops along the way.

So at the top of this year, I want to continue that metaphor of a road trip to talk about a slightly different way of setting off on that journey.

1. The Fuel—Tapping Into Your Motivation

First off, we need to take your big vision and find the smaller motivation to tap into each day. You can think of this as the fuel for your journey.

At the beginning of each day, I ask my clients to deliberately reference the larger goal with a small “tap” that reminds them of why it matters. They can do this through whatever centering practice works for them. That can be meditation, music, imagery, journaling—all that matters is that they are making contact with that larger dream.

For example, a student-athlete looking to win a championship in eight months could start the day with the song they listen to as they walk to the blocks. A writer attempting to finish their first novel might journal that day about how an ideal reader would respond to their book. Someone who is transitioning to a more active lifestyle could imagine themselves crossing the finish line at a 5k, beaming, knowing how much work went into that moment.

These small check-ins are the fueling stops we need to make it to the indicator on our journey…

2. The Road Signs—Your Two Actions For the Day

But what specific actions should we take? This is where many New Year’s resolutions break down—because they aren’t focused enough. “Get fit” is broad and non-specific. But, “today I will eat oatmeal for breakfast and lay off caffeine after lunch” are two specific actions to take during that one day.

How you decide on those actions is the third step of the process.

3. The Steering—A Non-Judgmental Balanced Critique

When you drive, you need to know which direction you’re going in and how far you’ve traveled. In other words: you need data on your journey. And in order to know which actions to take toward our larger goals, we also need data. And we get it by performing a balanced critique at the end of each day.

A balanced critique is designed to be non-judgmental. It asks you to consider only two elements of that day’s pursuit:

What is one specific thing you did and want to keep doing?

What is one specific thing you want to do differently?

The balanced critique works because it’s simple, not linked to emotion, and it leads to two clear actions to take the following day. In our example of someone who wants to advance their fitness by racing a 5k, they might do their critique like this:

One thing to keep doing: prepare three snacks for after my runs on Sunday.

One thing to do differently: add another five minutes of stretching after my run.

These two actions then “steer” them into their journey for the following day. This loop can be repeated for as long as you’re in pursuit of a larger goal.

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Putting it all together, the balanced critique gives you two actions to focus on the following day, after tapping into your motivation. You then keep following this cycle: tap motivation, take two small actions, non-judgmentally evaluate how that went, and set your two actions for the next day.

This feedback loop allows us to focus on each day of the journey rather than just driving endlessly down a road toward a glittering mirage. Because your goal isn’t a destination at the end of the road, it’s the distance you travel each day.

As E.L. Doctorow said about the writing process, “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” The same is true for your own big 2022 goals.