Golden Goals for 2012

Golden Goals for 2012

Dec 24

It’s about this time of year, when the current one is all but done, when some if us turn our thoughts to what the next one might look like. Some might be thinking, holy crap, where did 2011 go? If this year has flown by and what started with the best of intentions just turned into pretty much more of the same, then maybe you need to review how you go about shaping your year – and then ultimately your life.

It’s very easy to sit down over a glass of something fermented and say to yourself, next year I’m gonna do <insert whatever you want to achieve> – then maybe come next Christmas think – well I would have liked to have done that but, work, band, school, life, family (and any other excuses) kinda just got in the way or were of a higher priority. Well – they were only a higher priorty because you didn’t actually commit to your goal and make it a priority in itself.

The good news is you can actually do something about this if you want to and it really is very simple to do – why can I say this you may ask – because it’s what I do, and I’ve had another reasonably good year and ticked off a few things that I wanted to achieve – admittedly one or two went astray, nobody’s perfect eh?

So – I’m sharing with you my approach, by no means unique, take from it what you will – but one thing is certain – if you go into 2012 the same way as you did with 2011 and are not happy with the outcomes for this year then don’t be surprised if the outcomes for 2012 are broadly similar. A wiser man than me once said if you always do what you’ve always done you’ll always get what you always got. Alternatively only a mad man would keep doing the same things and expect the outcome to be different.

I digress – here it is – much of it is based on the principle of SMART goal setting with a few added Ian K nuances:

1) Set yourself goals that are within your own power and volition to achieve - they MUST NOT be reliant on somebody else’s input or control. Self initiated, maintained and controlled is the way to go here folks.

2) Your goals must be stated in the positive and have a clearly defined outcome that can be evidenced. As an example a bad goal would be “I don’t want to be as fat as I am now” – A much better goal would be “I want to lose 14 pounds by Easter 2012″

3) Once you have your goal defined actually write it down – get yourself a goal “notebook” – a really nice one, one that you want to touch and open every day, one that gives you real pleasure just picking it up – In this notebook you will start by writing down your headline goal – please write it down – that act in itself starts the commitment process but also does some weird stuff to your brain too – won’t go into details but its sort of like when you choose a new car, suddenly you spot that model all the time (for a while) – this bit of your brain picks up on the fact that you’ve written it down so it must be important so I’ll keep an eye for things that help.

4) From then you will write down how you will achieve this goal and what it will mean to you when you achieve it – all in very strong and positive glowing terms – again this helps to shape your frame of mind as to why you need/want to do this thing!

5) Finally – and this is the key piece – you will write down the first step to achieving this goal and when you commit to doing it.

From here on in you then take control of achieving this goal – you take that first step, write it on a card or a post it note and you put it somewhere where you and others can see it – then everybody knows you are going to do ‘x’ on the way to your goal. This may be a daily task, a weekly task or otherwise but write it down, make it visible and “just do it” – then go back to your notebook, fill it in, complete that first step and define your next step – write it on another post it/card and repeat and rinse as necessary – before you know it you’ll be filling in your notebook daily, ticking off those tasks and steps and achieving goals left right and centre. If others see your tasks and goals you may be pleasantly surprised to find out that they actually help you achieve this goal – a double bonus – so don’t go all shy and English on me by keeping it a secret – get it out there and get on with it!

Of course you can choose to ignore all the above – make a new years resolution, have trouble working out how to get cracking with it, give it up by the 14th of Jan and let the rest of the year steam along until we get to Xmas 2012 and wonder what the feck happened this year – where did that go? I’ll tell you where – it went and you’ll be another year closer to your grave and another year of lost and unfulfilled potential.

So this year – if you want to make a change – make a change! Happy days