Goal Setting
There is always a lot of talk at the beginning of the year about setting new year\’s resolutions. The most popular ones seem to resolve around personal improvement; go to the gym, lose weight, eat healthy and stop smoking. I believe New Year\’s resolutions indicate that we still believe there is hope for improvement, that we can make a change. However, there is the camp of people who believe that no one ever keeps their resolutions and therefore, why should you make them. Well, they do have a point. According to Marti Hope Gonzales, Aasociate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, research shows that “six weeks after people make their New Year\’s resolutions, 80 percent have either broken them or couldn\’t remember what they were.”. So why are we so bad at keeping our New Year\’s resolutions? Several reasons actually; we don\’t write them down, they\’re not realistic, and we don\’t make a plan.
I love the beginning of the year and dreaming of all the wonderful things I want to achieve for the year, but I can\’t just daydream, I have to put it in writing. Setting goals for your business life is a crucial part of growing. My motto is “if you\’re not growing, you\’re dying”. Status Quo will not maintain your business, but kill it. So now is the time to start putting your New Year\’s resolutions into action. Schedule time on your calendar this week to plan. Make sure you find a place and a time where you are totally uninterrupted. Then dream of the things you want to accomplish. Go ahead, dream! Write them down even if they seem to be far out of reach. If we don\’t begin with a dream, we can never accomplish the “impossible”. So how are we going to accomplish our dreams? One step at a time. Begin with the end in mind, then walk your self backwards making sure every step is realistic. What do you need to accomplish quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily in order to achieve your goal? Once your goals are broken into smaller steps you will begin to see how achievable they really are. You can do this! You can choose today to accomplish what is on your task list without becoming overwhelmed about what you have to do this month or this year. Take it one day at a time and you will be amazed at what you have achieved when you review your year at the end of 2012.
