Did you know that most New Year's Resolutions are forgotten by the end of January? It's true. Not only are most New Year's Resolutions broken by the end of January, many are just plain forgotten as well. So my suggestion this year is not to make any! That's right, no New Year's Resolutions. Or if you just have to have one, make a resolution that you are not going to have any resolutions this year. The genuine pursuit of real goals Instead pick just one goal that you are willing to commit to achieving no matter what. To accomplish this you really only need to do 3 things: 1. Put your goal in writing. Here is how you need to think about it - if your goal is not in writing, then you do not have a goal. When we keep a goal in our heads, the goal gets crowded out by all the other pieces of information running around in our heads. Putting your goal in writing makes it real and much more likely to be accomplished. This is because you can now put your written goal somewhere that you will see it several times a day. This is a powerful reminder and keeps you on course. 2. Tell lots of people about your goal. Tell others about your goal. Make sure you tell one or two people that will hold you accountable to your commitment. We all need encouragement from time to time. This is because no matter how motivated we are, there are times when we need a good swift kick in the pants. If you really want to hold you feet to the fire on this one, tell so many people about your goal that you will be embarrassed if you do not achieve it. 3. Give it all you got. Very few people have had the privilege of giving all they have toward a goal. It is a great feeling. Back in high school football, one of our mottos was to leave it all on the field. This means to give it all of you, to give it all you have got. This led to some very exhausted guys after some games. It also left us very content, and with a work ethic that has stuck with me for 35 years. Another way to look at it is this: simply commit to doing all the necessary things to achieve your goal. |
