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Ince Counseling Blog

Out with the Resolutions and In with the Successful Mission(Carving Out a Mission Statement for 2019)

1/14/2019

1 Comment

 
By: Tamara Ince
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Since the days of ancient Babylon, around four thousand years ago, people have made New Year’s resolutions.  During their massive 12-day festival, the Babylonians made promises to the gods to pay their debts, return borrowed objects, and make life changes.  These promises over the years evolved into New Year’s resolutions.  This practice continued throughout ancient Roman.  Then the early Christians modified it, when they commenced the tradition of thinking about one’s past mistakes and resolving to make changes in the future every Jan. 1.

Despite its secular origin, it has now become commonplace. Approximately 45% of Americans say they make New Year’s resolutions, according to recent research. However, only about 8% are successful. Out of those that are successful, according to research by Norcross et. al, approximately 53% had at least one slip. With such a dismal success rate, despite having over 4,000 years to perfect the art of New Year’s resolutions, I challenge you do embark on a new way to set 2019 goals. Instead of setting a New Year’s resolution and waking up a year later with a failed resolution and an unchanged life, I challenge you to actively implement steps to navigate 2019 based on a mission statement.

A mission statement can be developed around a habit you would like to break, a goal (such as purchasing a home or earning a degree), or a result you would like (such as better relationships). Once you have created your mission statement, you can develop an action plan on how to achieve the mission, with time-based goals. For example:

Mission Statement for a Couple:   To refocus on our union and better support intimacy in 2019

Action Plan:                
Quarterly: Plan a trip to experience a new environment, learn, review quarterly                 progress, laugh together, and enjoy rest and relaxation

Monthly:   Devote 1 day a month for a couples convention to discuss or revisit any concerns that have surfaced during the month and share potential resolutions. Embrace at the end of the day

Weekly:     Engage in at least one unprompted act of kindness

When crafting your mission, do be specific about what you want, make it achievable, (for example no one is perfect, so having a mission to be the perfect spouse is unachievable), realistic (for example you know how many hours you have for your action plan so don’t plan more than you have time to do), and timely (set time periods for actions and deadlines for your mission). Developing and implementing a mission statement will help you focus on the important aspects of your life and increase the odds that you will wake up January 1, 2020 happier and more successful. Research has shown that mission statements can draw people together towards common goals, give hope for a better future, inspire couples and individuals to achieve their dreams through effective actions, convert broad dreams into an action-oriented roadmap to success, and empower people to maintain focus despite distractions. Let’s work to turn your visions and dreams into your realities.

Resources to jump start you are:

Planning Tools
  1. Step-by-Step Exercise for Creating a Mission Statement http://www.jeffersonawards.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Mission-Statement-Exercise.pdf
  2. Wunderlist- tool to set daily, weekly and monthly goals https://www.wunderlist.com/
  3. Atlassian’s JIRA and Confluence, task management planning and timing tool https://www.atlassian.com/
  4. Google Tasks- simple tool to create to-do lists in your desktop and integrate it with calendars http://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas
  5. Way of Life- the Ultimate Habit Maker & Breaker https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/way-life-ultimate-habit-maker/id393159800?mt=8
  6. Bento- tool for creating and tracking and editing goals http://www.filemaker.com/products/bento/
  7. Better than Before book by Gretchen Rubin on how to leverage habits sequentially

Time Management Tools
  1. Scoro- track time, schedule reminders, plan tasks and more https://www.scoro.com/time-management-software/
  2. Asana- break goals into tasks and organize and set milestones for actions https://asana.com/
  3. Trello- organize vision boards, lists, and reminders https://trello.com/
  4. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity book by David Allen
  5. Time Management Made Simply book by Brian Tracy includes workbook sections with space for writing
  6. Time Management Workbook by Lisa Sullivan
  7. Time Management: A Holistic Approach to Productivity, Stress Reduction and Effectiveness by Michael Jibrael
  8. Time Management Workbook- designed for college classes, but the fill in blank sections can serve as model for how to manage your time for mission statement activities and you can use most of the pages for planning and tracking your time for your mission statement activities. https://web.wlu.ca/learning_resources/oo/Time_Management_INTERACTIVE.pdf
  9. Clear- organize life into digestible bits https://web.wlu.ca/learning_resources/oo/Time_Management_INTERACTIVE.pdf
  10. RescueTime https://www.rescuetime.com/

References: 

Basil, Michael D., Debra Z. Basil, and Caroline Schooler. "Cigarette Advertising to Counter New Years Resolutions." Journal of health communication 5.2 (2000): 161-174.
    
De Vet, Emely, et al. "Ain’t no mountain high enough? Setting high weight loss goals predict effort and short-term weight loss." Journal of health psychology 18.5 (2013): 638-647.

Doran, James, Danling Jiang, and David Peterson. "Gambling in the New Year? The January idiosyncratic volatility puzzle." Unpublished working paper, Florida State University (2008).

Ellis, Albert. "Rational-emotive therapy and its application to emotional education." Paper delivered at the 17th International Congress of the International Association of Applied Psychology, Liege, Belgium. 1971.

Heffernan, Margaret. "Changing the game." Prowess Conference. Vol. 3. 2003.

Liebert, Robert S., and John M. Oldham, eds. The middle years: New psychoanalytic perspectives. Yale University Press, 1989.

Marlatt, G. Alan, and Burt E. Kaplan. "Self-initiated attempts to change behavior: A study of New Year's resolutions." Psychological Reports 30.1 (1972): 123-131.

Moore, Ann, and Gwendolen Jull. "New years resolutions and personal and professional development 2006." Manual therapy 11.1 (2006): 1.

Nelissen, Rob MA, Emely de Vet, and Marcel Zeelenberg. "Anticipated emotions and effort allocation in weight goal striving." British journal of health psychology 16.1 (2011): 201-212.

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Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling.

1 Comment
Slow Cooking Cookbook link
5/31/2023 12:16:28 am

Greaat blog I enjoyed reading

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