Resolutions are NOT Goals.

They are intentions.

To be effective and affective they must be meaningful. They must fire your intrinsic motivation. To make change, Goals must have an Affective intention and be Effective in creating the conditions for progressive actions.

Affective – the start, the emotional drive to do (see emotional circumplex).

Effective – the positive outcome of actions or plans.

In the Think Gray world intentions properly described for affect, represent G1 – the high level intentional Outcome Goal.

To achieve goals, results, change, we need to structure them using the Think Gray M3 approach. First look at the first M – Motivation. That is the subject of this post. In the coming weeks we will address the second M – Mobilisation, and then the third M – Momentum.

Motivation

• Describe your intentions positively as approach goals – what you will do create or be better at – not what you will avoid or not do.
• Describe them in ways that are meaningful to you and your life. What will be happening differently in your life. Why is that meaningful to you? Do you feel inspired by the vision of the end result?
• Describe the feeling that you have when you think about the outcome, do you feel positive affect? If you feel that it is about how other people see you or expect you to be, then it is not intrinsic it is extrinsic. If your motivation is extrinsic, either change the description or dispense with it, because the likelihood of success has just reduced significantly. Alternatively, ask why other people feel that this is good for you? Is there an “invisible gorilla” there? Is it something that you do not see or can’t see?
• It must feel challenging yes, but it must also feel necessary for your life lived your way.
• Create the story of the future (memory for the future). This is your vision, describe the situations, the behaviours, the emotions, the thoughts that you will experience when you effect / enact your resolution. (When I am tempted to do something that I want to avoid, imagine your kids/parents/spouse watching you, how do you want them to see you? What will you do differently to be the person you want to be?
• What will you feel, do, think? Does the story provide positive affect (emotion)?

Write your intention down, rework it until you have effectively addressed these questions. Then you are ready to look at Mobilisation.

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