Hello to 2016. It’s a new year, so seems like an appropriate time to start a new blog. It’s the season for New Year’s Resolutions and I’m sharing some thoughts and research about how to reach your goals and make those resolutions happen. I’m also including a free downloadable PDF to get you started.
Do you write down your New Year’s Resolutions or goals in general? Dr. Gail Matthews recently completed a study at Dominican University that compared people just thinking about their goals versus those that wrote their goals down, committed to action-steps and had accountability.
At the end of the study only 43% of the group that just thought about their goals had actually completed their goals or were halfway there. Compare this to the other group that wrote their goals, committed to actions and had accountability where 76% had accomplished their goals or were at least half way there. I think we can agree with Matthews who concluded that “My study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of three coaching tools: accountability, commitment, and writing down one’s goals.”
While we are talking about goals and accountability, I thought I’d share some of my goals and vision for this blog.
- Prioritize mental health, wellness and self-care as a part of daily life
- Most of our lives are busy and crazy and we often don’t prioritize ourselves or we let our personal lives be the first thing to fall to the wayside in the list of priorities to get done. I hope to share ideas and ways to take care of yourself so that you can be better at “being you” and avoid burnout and stress.
- Make therapy and psychology more approachable and even cool
- This means changing the stigma around mental illness and mental health in the world while showing how therapy and psychology can enrich your life and help you meet your goals.
- Get to know me and find the right therapist for you
- Maybe you are here because you are curious about therapy or want to know if I’m the right therapist for you. I hope that by sharing a little bit about my thoughts and ideas I can give you a positive experience around therapy and a way to get to know me. Ultimately I want you to feel encouraged to reach out and find the right therapist for you whether that’s me or someone else.
Ready to set you goals and resolutions for 2016? Download this free PDF to write down your goals and plan out how to make them happen.
