Resolutions ‘Damaging’ to Long Term Success

A leading UK confidence coach is offering hope to anyone who quit their New Year’s Resolution, on national ‘Quitters Day’ (yesterday Sunday 12 January) or is thinking of giving up in the next few days as we get deeper in to January. Kate Bishop, one of the country’s leading career and confidence coaches, believes that New Year’s Resolutions are actually damaging to long term success, and that quitting, or even not having a resolution at all, could be a more effective approach to achieving life goals… and sticking to them.

Rather than entering into a continuous cycle of making and breaking New Year’s Resolutions, Bishop suggests an alternative approach to enjoying the clean slate that January provides. She fully believes that focusing on a long term life purpose that’s achieved over time, instead of placing pressure on oneself to achieve a New Year’s Resolution within the year, is key to success.

“For many of us, the New Year means a clean slate, and it means a new opportunity for us all to be the us that we really want to be, but I’m a firm believer that the traditional New Year’s Resolution can actually be damaging to success,” she says.

“The problem with New Year’s Resolutions is that people think of their resolution as a onetime deal. There’s this singularity attached to resolutions that means if we look away from our goal for even a moment, there’s no point in continuing, but that’s not how change works.”

Instead, Bishop believes that change needs to be viewed from a long term perspective in order to be successful. “Change isn’t linear,” she says, “we may do everything right one day, and everything wrong the next, and that’s OK.”

Bishop’s advice comes at a time when commitment to New Year’s Resolutions is beginning to show signs of faltering. 12th January has become known as ‘Quitter’s Day’, with research showing that this particular day of the year is when many give up on their dreams of change. With the excitement of the festive season far behind, and the realities of being back to work setting in, this day of the year seems to prove the most challenging for many people.

However, Bishop hopes that her advice will help those struggling to keep working towards their goals and visions this year, and into the future. And she is certainly no stranger to helping individuals achieve their goals, working alongside employees during periods of change to boost their confidence, navigate tricky situations, and create sustainable plans for a successful future.

To find out more about Kate Bishop, visit www.kate-bishop.co.uk