Setting Goals for the New Year
After a few days back at work and into our normal routines, when our heads have cleared from holiday celebrations, much food and drink, and socializing, it’s a good time to consider what we are going to do in the New Year.
The New Year is a chance to start over, write our lives in a new way. We can consider new options, changing behavior, and even turning the way we do things upside down. It’s like spring time: after months of bare branches and storing their life forces in their roots, trees and plants send out new shoots and grow leaves and flowers that blossom in the sunlight.
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”
Edith Lovejoy Pierce
To begin, decide what you want to do. If it doesn’t immediately come to you, try brainstorming with a friend or with yourself. In brainstorming, you allow the free flow of thoughts without editing or judging them. I personally like “free writing”. In this exercise I write down what I want as quickly as possible without regards to grammar, punctuation, or without judging the goals. Then I reread my list and choose the objectives I want to work towards.
Write down your goals and be specific. Aspirations such as “I am going to find a new position of employment as a Marketing Manager at a technology related company where I make $75,000 per year or more,” or “I am going to lose 25 pounds and exercise at the gym regularly so that the extra bulge on my stomach disappears,” are specific. Goals such as “I want to get a new job”, or “I want to lose weight” are too easy to slip out of and get lost in because they aren’t clearly defined, so you don’t know what you need to do to reach them.
Include objectives from the following list that are important to you: relationships, family, work, career, self-improvement, acquiring new skills and education, leisure, recreation, and socializing.
We often set ourselves up for failure when creating goals, as well. Too many huge life changing dreams overwhelm us. And goals that we really don’t want to accomplish leave us feeling discouraged when we don’t achieve them. Ask yourself, “Do I really want to learn that foreign language, return to school for another degree, or move to Rishikesh India and become a yoga and meditation Instructor? If the answer is “yes” include it, if “no” let it go. This can be an empowering experience and free up energy, so you can focus on what is most important in your life.
Framing objectives as “new year’s resolutions” gives us an immediate escape hatch because, of course, New Year’s resolutions are promises not kept. I’ve thrown the world resolution out of my goal setting vocabulary.
The following keys will help you reach your significant goals during the year.
Choose the most important one and focus on it.
Write out the specific steps needed to achieve the objective such as “I will send out twenty resumes and have at least three telephone or in person interviews a week until I am hired in a position the I want”.
Tell friends and family members about your goals. This will keep you on track and prevent you from rationalizing and not following through.
Review your goals frequently, at least once a month, and adjust them or change them when needed. For example, if you are offered a job you want at the company where you work, you may want to end your job search and accept position.
Stay positive. Enjoying the journey, having a positive attitude, and believing that you will get what you want will make attaining you desired results much easier and more successful.
Creating a life plan with long term goals will assist you in your effort and put yearly targets in perspective. Saving your list of goals from previous years will give you feedback on what is most important to you and what works and what doesn’t. You’ll feel a sense of satisfaction when you realize the progress you’ve made.
And remember to reward yourself. Give yourself, for example, that vacation in France you’ve been dreaming of, that new car you’ve wanted but haven’t had the courage to invest in, that weekend off spent with friends or family.
Happy Goal setting and achieving. I know you will have a happier, more rewarding year. Please post me about your goal setting suggestions your goals, and what you have achieved.
“May Light always surround you; Hope kindle and rebound you. May your Hurts turn to Healing; Your Heart embrace Feeling. May Wounds become Wisdom; Every Kindness a Prism. May Laughter infect you; Your Passion resurrect you. May Goodness inspire your Deepest Desires. Through all that you Reach For, May your arms Never Tire.”
D. Simone
