BY KEISHA JOHNSON
The end of 2015 is rapidly approaching and our goal setting for the coming year should have by now been completed or at minimum we should have a skeletal plan in mind of our priorities and major goals for 2016.
If not, let’s not panic or give up just yet. Where there is life there is hope. This article is not to cloak you in guilt but rather to empower you to end 2015 strong.
Over the course of the next two issues we will provide a few tried and proven keys that successful people have adopted to produce extraordinary results in their business and personal lives. When applied they could boost your serotonin and dopamine levels and bump up your happiness quotient (HQ) throughout the new year as you make progress towards your ideals. For if you are not happy with yourself, it often matters little that the world celebrates you.
Don’t beat yourself up. If what you did this year did not produce the results you anticipated, take some time to do a thorough review and note the lessons learned. Albert Einstein discovered that doing the same things the same way over and over expecting a different result is nothing short of insanity.
The past is behind you. You are in the present so focus your faculties on what is within your power. What do you have in your hand? What talent, skill, connections, access, resources etc. are at your disposal? Make an inventory of them. Then make a decision on what you can do now and what you will do differently to meet your goals next year and commit to it.
Align your goals to your overarching vision. You may already be quite familiar with SMART goals. Goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, results focused and time bound. SMART goals are great only if they are aligned to your overarching vision, much like a swim suit is ideal for the beach but not if you are going out to shovel snow.
If we agree with Earl Nightingale that “success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal,” then we can start this journey by identifying our worthy ideal or ideals for 2016. This is your big vision.
Once you have made that clear determination ask yourself, what will it take to get accomplished? As you answer this last question it will clarify the goals – the specific, measurable, achievable, results focused and time bound actions – that need to be consistently taken in order to fulfill your ideal(s).
Write these goals down and arrange them in the chronological order that they need to be fulfilled to attain your big overarching ideal. This will give you your timelines.
Next, consider all these factors against the resources available to ensure their achievability. I did not say the resources you personally have available, but the resources that exist that you can access (that you may not even have thought of), otherwise you may undermine your potential and limit your success.
Keep the goals that stand up to this scrutiny before you as your roadmap to your ideals. Post it on a wall, physical or electronic, where you will see it every day. Share them with a few select trustworthy people who will hold you accountable and help you meet them. Then relentlessly pursue them, mindful always that to “never give up is the secret of glory.”
Look out for Part Two in the next issue with more suggestions of tried and proven keys to help you realize your goals and fulfill your vision.
