Use the three “C’s” to improve motivation.

As the New Year rounds the corner, you’re probably considering making resolutions, goals, or intentions. Or perhaps, you dread the question “What are your resolutions?” Some of us dread that question because we’re well aware that past resolutions haven’t made it past the first week.

Why is it that some goals stick and others flop?

Motivation is a key ingredient to making anything happen, let alone a new habit. So here are the three “C’s” of motivation to help you start on the right foot regardless of if your New Year holds new goals, or a continuation of old goals.

First, check in on the cost.

We will lack motivation if our goal isn’t something valuable to us. This is often why we procrastinate on tasks we perceive as “busywork.” It’s also why we fail at goals that were imposed on us from someone else. If we don’t think doing a thing actually matters, we’re unlikely to do it. Additionally, we’re motivated to do things if the cost of not doing them is steep.

Here are some reflection questions to determine if your goal is aligned with regards to cost:

• How is this goal aligned with my values?

• What will life look like in a year if I meet this goal? Why is that important to me?

• What will life look like in a year if I don’t follow through on this resolution? Why does that matter?

• What will it cost me if I don’t make this change? Am I willing to pay that price?

Second, check in on your confidence.

Your mindset matters. While you don’t need to have all the skills to meet your goals right away, you do need to have a sense of being capable of developing the skills necessary to accomplish the task at hand. Yes, I might want to win an Olympic gold medal, but if I don’t actually believe I can do it, I’ll never start training for it. We have to have a sense of self-efficacy in order to feel motivated toward a goal. Self-efficacy is a feeling of “I can do it” or “I have the ability to learn how to do it.”

Here are some reflection questions to assess your level of confidence:

• Have I done something like this in the past and been successful at it?

• Have I done something like this in the past and failed? What was that like? How did I handle it?

• What are the skills necessary to meet this goal? Do I already have those skills? If not, do I have resources to attain those skills?

• Do I have what it takes to accomplish this?

• Do I have any self-limiting beliefs about my ability to follow through on this?

• What would make me feel even 1% more confident?

Last, check in on your capacity.

You might have a goal that is super important to you, it would change your life in a significant way, and perhaps not meeting this goal would really impact you negatively. You might also feel totally confident in that you already have the skills necessary to succeed. However, if you lack the capacity to actually follow through, your resolution may not come to fruition.

Your capacity to follow through has to do the with practical limitations in your life. Here are some questions to ponder as you evaluate your capacity:

• Do I have the energy to make this change?

• Do I have the time it takes to dedicate to this goal?

• Do I have the financial resources, if any are needed, to adjust to this resolution?

• Do I have a plan laid out for how I’ll accommodate this new goal?

• Do I have responsibilities to other areas of life (work, family, friends, etc.) that could limit my ability to put the effort needed into this goal?

• Are my expectations of myself reasonable or a recipe for burnout?

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The New Year is a prime time for self-reflection, to realign with values, goals, and intentions. Motivation tends to be high with a fresh start, however, it quickly dwindles if we haven’t counted the cost, cultivated self-confidence, and assessed our capacity.