There was a time in my life that every New Year's I would set resolutions. For me, they seemed to be focused more around my health: Lose weight, exercise more, break a bad habit. Sound familiar? I found that they were focused more around what I should NOT be doing versus who I should strive to be. I usually found that by second or third week of January I reverted back to old habits and the resolutions were forgotten; well at least ignored to be honest. After many unsuccessful years of trying to stick to my resolutions; I finally just gave up making them. I lived for the day was my motto.
About four years ago, I was attending a workshop at my company on goal setting . The instructor asked the question "Is the life you have today the same you want in 10 years?" That hit me between the eyes since I have BIG plans for my life. But that day I came to the realization that my life in 10 years would be not much different then my life today if I didn't start consciously making decisions that would enable me to get where I want to go. Don't get me wrong; I have an amazing life and am truly blessed. But, I also feel a higher calling me to even greater accomplishments; I frankly want to do more with my life. I also determined that unless I started setting goals and actively manage them they will fall by the wayside like my New Year's resolutions. For me, the reality is if I don't keep my goals alive; my daily life activities would just edge them out over time.
I decided that I needed to get a system in place to assist me in developing my goals and keeping them in the forefront of my mind so that I can accomplish them. So, I found a system that appealed to me and determined that for one year I would stay committed to it. It was an amazing process to go through the first time; and a task I look forward to doing each year since. The ability to sit back and ask yourself in every aspect of your life what do you want to look different and commit to achieving it is quite the eye-opener. To be able to put these down on paper and then have a system in place to keep them focused in my life on a regular basis is absolutely key.
What I quickly discovered by my third month is that I was making progress in accomplishing my goals. It was a good motivator to stick to the system I had in place. By the time I got to the end of my first year, I was surprised to discover that I hit about 80% of my goals and about 50% of them I had exceeded. So, the second year I decided to set my goals even with a higher and again found that with focus I could accomplish a lot.
As I wrap each year, I enjoy reviewing the goals I set for myself the year prior and have found a few repeating patterns.
1. I always achieve/exceed at least 70% of my goals. Even though I set the bar on goals a bit higher each year; it is amazing how many I actually reach.
2. There is always an area of my life that is flat-lined … I didn't achieve the goals to where I envision at the beginning of the year. I don't view this as a negative point; I'm not expecting to hit 100% of my goals any year. This has happened two years in a row for one particular area in my life. What I'm questioning now is how much effort or energy should I put forth in this area this next year in relation to the other areas of my life.
3. A new goal appears every year. And these are BIG goals I'm referring to. What I'm finding is that the more I step outside my comfort zone .. new opportunities in new areas of my life appear. For the past 2 years, these new areas have become significant focus areas on my goal setting for the next year.
As I mentioned before that I feel I'm being pulled to a higher calling. I believe the new goals are moving me towards that higher calling and the goals I'm flat-lining on is an indication that my energy needs to be diverted elsewhere.
Goal Setting has been a wonderful experience. It keeps me focused through-out the year and am finding that a bi-product of my progress is happiness and a sense of purpose. I know the positive impact I'm making on my life and of those around me.
Resource: www.goalsachievedreams.com
Using my own life as living proof that extraordinary choices lead to an amazing life, I help others women do the same. As a divorced mother, I empower other divorcees to move out of their comfort zone and begin creating an extraordinary life for themselves and their children. For additional information about me, please join me at www.joylaughterpeace.com