Key Reasons Why Personal Change Initiatives Fail

These are the typical hurdles that prevent successful personal change

Everyone fails, at times, to successfully implement a desired personal change in our respective lives. 

Sometimes we learn from these failures; many times we do not.

Perhaps the most obvious example of failed personal change initiatives takes place during the annual New Year’s Resolution ritual. 

Despite an abundance of motivation and sense of purpose assigned to these, the fact is that the large majority of New Year’s Resolutions are abandoned within the first 90 days of each year. And research shows that over 80% result in failure or are not achieved. 

Why is this so?

There are many reasons for this, but the main ones we believe that contribute the most to any personal change effort failing to achieve the desired outcome are: 

• People do not make the top of mind, each and every day. 
• People attempt too many initiatives simultaneously. This is particularly true at the start of the year when the typical New Year's Resolutions list reaches double-digit figures. 
• There is no prioritization, with each resolution being treating as equally important. 
• An unwillingness to just "say no" to distractions and other initiatives. 
• No concrete action plans. Just wishful thinking that change will somehow magically happen. 
• A failure to turn the desired change into a daily habit. 
• Not allowing others to hold us accountable. Keeping our change initiatives private to ourselves means we only have to answer to ourselves. And we are all too good at rationalizing our way out of making change. 
• Not putting our goals into a quantifiable format. 
• Not racking our progress or keeping journals to know what is working, and what is not.

According to some scientific research, it takes on average 66 days for a new behavior to become a new habit. That’s a little over two months!

No wonder so many people give up and abandon their personal change initiatives before reaching success. They typically quit too early in the process, often because they underestimate the time required to fully inculcate and instill a new behavior or a new change into their daily routines.

Don’t let this happen to you. Use the above list as a guideline to help ensure that you do not let these typical hurdles become hardened obstacles that prevent you from successfully achieving your personal change initiatives.

For advice on how to overcome these hurdles, see our 7 Key Success Factors for Implementing Personal Change. 

Want to get your personal change goals back on track? The year is half over. Now is a perfect time to review your progress and re-ignite your personal change efforts. For help, see our earlier post on our launch of the Mid-Year Resolutions Initiative. You'll be glad you did.