Maybe, just maybe, there's a recipe for accomplishing goals.

If you know me, you know I love a little research and "self-help".  And since you might be setting your own 2021 goals right now, I thought I'd share my research with you.

I think most of us know that the practice of writing our goals down, makes us 30% more likely to achieve our goals.  However, even if you write your goals down, there's a high probability that you won't accomplish your goals.  In fact, studies show, only 8% of the goals are ever met.

My purpose for researching what is the science behind reaching goals is the fact that I don't want to fall in the 92% of people who set goals but didn't reach them.

I was listening to a podcast, and the guest on the podcast recommended a book called "Tiny Habits" by BJ Fogg.  https://www.tinyhabits.com/book for more information.

In order to change behavior, you have to make new behavior a habit.  A habit is performing a certain behavior over and over until it is part of your daily routine.  And, according to BJ Fogg, there are 3 parts to making a behavior a new habit:  Motivation, Ability, Prompt (MAP)

Motivation - That's what most New Year's Resolutions are made of, but motivation is the most fickle of the 3 pieces to creating a habit.  When you're motivated, you're likely to do that "thing" towards accomplishing your goal(s).  But what do you rely on when you're just not feeling motivated?  That's the problem.  Without the motivation, the progress towards reaching your goal tends to die.  That is, IF motivation is all you are relying on to reach your goals.

Ability - How easy or difficult is the behavior?  The behavior needs to be accomplished as easily as possible.  The harder the behavior is to accomplish, the less likely the behavior will actually happen day after day.

Prompt - This is the part you might not know about.  A great way to make an action/behavior a habit, is to always associate the behavior with a trigger.  Let me give you an example:  alarm goes off, you get up and go exercise.  Or, let's say you want to start journal.  Every morning just after you pour your first cup of coffee. you make it a habit to start writing in your journal.

I hope my quest to be more successful at creating new habits, helps you as well.  Here's to a happy and healthy 2021!