Every year, millions of people around the world decide that it’s time to change, to get a better job, to work harder, to get a raise, to become fitter. The problem is; only the minority actually sticks to those resolutions and keeps working towards them. Life always finds a way to get between you and your resolutions.

  • Planning to have more phone-free family dinners? Sorry, but work emails cannot wait.
  • Excited to have that holiday you’ve always wanted? Think again, those business trips won’t take themselves.
  • You want to get your six-pack ready for the summer? What about those fancy dinners with your business partners? And how can find a spot for your training sessions in a schedule full of meetings?

Do you know what the worst part is? We never blame failing to stick to our resolutions on ourselves. It always the difficulty of work-life balance fault. That needs to change today. Stop blaming your work for your failure and start working on using your work skills to succeed, and your resolutions will turn into reality in no time.

In this article, we’ll present the blueprint to success; how you can plan your new year’s resolutions in the right way.

Stop Setting Resolutions, Start Making Decisions

Although it’s good to set resolutions, it’s easier to forget about them and get out of track when you keep seeing them as mere goals that you “want” to achieve. What you really need to do is start making decisions.

Tell me; how many times have you had to abandon a business goal because of an emergency that came up? I’m sure you’ve done it a lot of times. After all, it wasn’t a life-or-death type of goal, and emergencies are more important, right?

Wrong.

Don’t think of your resolutions as specific business goals that you want to achieve. Studies show that we’re nine times more likely to follow through our business decisions. That’s a huge step forward, which makes decisions far more potent than mere resolutions or goals. That raises a question; if we can follow through when it comes to decisions, why aren’t we doing it all the time?

Simple; because with great decisions, come great responsibility. Everything has a pice after all.

Decisions Lead to Actions

The main difference between resolutions and decisions is the amount of work actually required before delving into either of them.

Setting resolutions is easy, and it gives a euphoric feeling in the beginning. No hard work is required at the start. Just get a piece of paper, make a small checklist, and you’re good to go. The only problem is that you’re probably going to be disappointed and feel extreme guilt as soon as real work begins since work requires incredible willpower that you didn’t expect.

Decisions, on the other hand, require effort and hard work right off the bat. You don’t just decide to do something by writing it down. You need to research what you’re doing, compare the pros and cons of the different choices, study the required work, calculate the probabilities, then make your decision.

It seems frustrating, doesn’t it?

Well, it depends on how you look at it. Sure, decisions require work, but once you decide to do something, you’re most likely to follow through with it, as you’ve already estimated the needed effort beforehand. It’s almost as if everything’s automated once the decision has been made.

The Sweet Part: The Blueprint to Decision-Driven Resolutions

Did you know that managers in big corporations make more decisions in one year that most people make in a lifetime? Do you know the secret behind such efficiency? It’s following a consistent decision-making checklist, which you can also apply to your new year’s resolutions just fine.

Grab a can of Epuri Cranberry or Epuri Pure and sit down as we reveal the secret checklist that will turn your 2019 New Year’s resolutions into reality.

1.     Start by Determining the Biggest Reasons You Are Likely to Fail

For a realistic approach, you need to determine the reasons because of which you are most likely to fail, also known as challenges in the work lingo, which is something that successful entrepreneurs do all the time when trying to work towards a goal.

Sure, starting by the reasons you are most likely to succeed seems appealing, but that can get unnecessary illusions into your head.

If you’re trying to get fit, one of the challenges that you may face is your laziness, or maybe your busy schedule; there’s also the lack of energy and motivation that you may feel in one step or the other.

If you’re trying to meet more people, potential challenges may include your shyness, or your fear of social events, or perhaps your busy schedule that doesn’t allow for social meetups.

Just get a piece of paper and write down any challenge that you may face during your journey.

2.     Turn the Challenges Into decisions

Nothing fancy here. Just rephrase each challenge from “This [Challenge] may stop me from reaching my goal” to “What should I do about the [Challenge].”

Of course, you can reframe the challenge however you may; you just need to address it properly.

3.     Assemble Your Team

Unlike resolutions, decisions are complicated, and decision-driven work is all about teams. A decision team includes anyone that can help and anyone that can get in the way. If you’re trying to become fit, your decision team will probably include your family, spouse, personal trainer, and anyone involved in your activities and diet.

4.     Take a Moment to Think

If you found the decision team idea funny, maybe you should consider quitting from now, as you’ve already set yourself to failure. Perhaps consider picking a different resolution or accept your life as is. If, on the other hand, if you’ve already assembled your team, it’s time for serious matters, so take a small break, gulp down a can or Epuri Cola, and proceed to the next step.

5.     Make. Your. Decisions

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! You’re on the right path towards true dedication since you’ve already set the challenges, assembled the decision team, and gotten their buy-in. Granted, it is tough, but making those decisions proved that you do care about your resolutions. Decisions are tough, but that’s how they work, and that’s why they’ll work for you.