Achieving Success in 2006

A new year brings with it expectations, hopes and dreams. It also hopefully brings renewed commitment to keep in focus what is truly important to us. But we also need it to bring the energy, enthusiasm and passion to make those expectations, hopes and dreams reality.

So the beginning of a new year is a time when setting “goals” is often the topic of conversation. So here are a few tips.

1. Make sure the goals you set are YOUR goals, not someone else’s. If you find yourself saying: “I should…I ought to…I have to…I must…” , then it is likely that the goal is not yours. Ask yourself: “Who said, I should, must, ought to, have to?” Whose expectations am I trying to meet? Saying “I want to……in 2006” is more likely to be what you want to achieve.
2. Your goals need to meet the needs of the whole YOU – the professional YOU, the family and friend YOU and the individual YOU.
3. Don’t set too many goals, or ones that are too demanding or unrealistic, because that sets you up for failure rather than success. Reflect on what is most important for you and what will make the biggest difference in your life, both personally and professionally. Break the big goals down into small steps that make them achievable before the end of the year.
4. Think about the “being” and the “doing” part of the goal. Sometimes “being” a certain way stops us achieving the “doing” part. Sometimes too much focus on the “doing” and nothing much on the “being” finds satisfaction avoiding us. Maybe I need to change the way I act or behave to achieve what is really important to me. Sometimes we have to seem to lose to actually win!

5. Draw up a 3, 4 or 6 month plan for yourself. As well as keeping it on your computer, keep a hard copy on your desk.

   Goal Write down your Goal.

   Process What you are going to do to achieve it? Make them achievable steps.

   Timeline Commit to a time whereby you will aim to achieve each goal or step.

   Achieved Tick when achieved – or stick in a gold star!

   Review your plan every week. Is it taking you where you want to go? Make it a “living plan”. Don’t set it in concrete. Change it, add to it, but be honest about why you are changing it. Change it to do or be something more, not to cop out and do and be something less!

6. Reward yourself when you achieve a goal. Celebrate the achievement, giving it importance because that motivates and empowers you to take on your other goals with the same passion and enthusiasm. In fact, make one of your goals that you will focus on your achievements, not on your failures or inadequacies. Get yourself the type of note-book that looks as if it will do justice to your achievements and every day – maybe it will be leather or have a funky design or a “painting” by a famous artist, for example. Write down what you achieved that day and what you can be grateful for that day. Consistently doing this will change your life, especially when you read back over it on the “bad” days. Don’t ignore the failures and inadequacies. Reflect on them but proactively move on. Make every lemon into lemonade, and add a dash of vodka!
7. Reflect on what has stopped you achieving your goals in the past. Is it time, the inability to be consistent, the way you handle your emotions, your lack of assertiveness in following through, or what? When you’ve discovered that, make it one of your goals to change that in 2007. That will need a number of steps!

At this point, you may decide that you want to invest in yourself in 2007 – personally and professionally and get yourself a personal consultant, a mentor, coach or professional supervisor, to journey with you, to help you do this. That person can support, empower and challenge you, as well as celebrating your wins and helping you proactively turn the lemon into lemonade! You have to add the dash of vodka.