New Years Resolution?

This is the time of year when we begin to hear a great deal about setting goals for the New Year. The thought of a fresh year with no blemishes drives many to dream of new beginnings and better performance. The sad truth is that most just talk about goals and rarely act. They are content to fantasise about what could be.

Goals without plans and daily actions are well-intended daydreams. Any of you who know me well will know that I not a great sportsman or even a sports fan. What you might not know is that one of my heroes is Sir Steve Redgrave precisely because he overcame his adversity by setting goals. Tiny ones that built up to big achievements, six Olympic medals - the famous five Golds and an often forgotten Bronze in Pairs in 1988. He was awarded the MBE, the CBE and following his success in Sydney was awarded a Knighthood in the 2001 New Years Honours List. I have heard him talk about improving his personal best by breaking it down in to ¼ or ½ second improvements which did not then sound too daunting, building up to world class achievements.

Each of us has a lifeline that we are currently moving along to our final destination. It begins at birth and ends on this earth when we draw our last breath. We have an incredible number of choices to make on the journey, but one among all of these normally defines our life. Have you chosen to live a life of default (choices made for you) or design (your choices)?

Let me ask you the question that will be the central theme for the rest of this blogg, “Are you a goal setter or a problem solver?” Most will clearly fall on one side or the other with the highest performers usually on the side of the goal setters. In reality only 2% of the world proudly claim to be goal setters and the other 99% rely on problem solving to move through their life.

Problem solvers will argue they move through life at the same pace as goal setters. The only flaw in their argument is they usually progress in the direction of the problems they solve and not in the direction that their life could have taken.

Here is an exercise that I have recently started doing at this time of year. Take out eight pieces of blank paper and title each page with one of the following words:

1. Social,
2. Physical, 
3. Spiritual, 
4. Financial, 
5. Educational, 
6. Work,
7. Family, 
8. Personal.

Under each heading, create a list of what you want to accomplish for 2012. Ask yourself the following questions as you prioritise each list:

a) What behaviours will you have to change in order to accomplish each one?
b) How committed are you to achieving the individual items on each list?
c) What will achieving each item do for you personally?
d) What roadblocks will you have to overcome to accomplish each one?
e) Who will be your accountability partner?
f) How will you celebrate each accomplishment?

This is not a unique incite, there are 52,533 books on goal setting listed on Amazon.com and 13.2 million websites! However it is not so much about the "however" as it is about the "now"!

I encourage you to set some small goals and test the water. Pick something that will force you to stretch your life beyond your current comfort zone and unconditionally commit to working on it for the next twenty days. Pay close attention to your experience at the fourteen-day mark as this is where the magic occurs. Here is where you get to make a choice because your mind will begin to “convince” you that the degree of difficulty is too great and you should opt out of the process. If you press through this sabotaging self-talk, you have the potential to gain control of your future. Then, it is simply a matter of following the directions on most shampoo bottles, “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.” “Set goals, Achieve your dreams, Set more goals”.

Let me know how you get on.