| You may
be surprised to hear that but it's true. New Years Resolutions are
a waste of time. If you don't believe me just think how many people
you know who have a New Years Resolution to give up this or start
doing that, and then of course do no such thing. If you attend a
gym regularly you'll notice that the car park gets full up in the
first few weeks of January. By now it's getting back to normal.
All the time-wasters have given up. They've probably started smoking,
drinking too much coffee and eating too many pies again as well.
The truth is that, as Zig Ziglar
points out, New Years Resolutions are nothing more relevant than
New Years Confessions. 'I confess I've got to give up smoking',
'I confess I've got to lose some weight'. Now confession is a great
start. It's the first thing you should do when setting a goal. But
don't end it there! People just don't seem t o be able to grasp
the basics of goal setting. I even saw a woman on television saying
her New Years Resolution was to win the lottery. How did she figure
that one out? This is all a mess. We're going to do something about
it right now.
I want to make it really simple.
Get a pen and paper out and do this exercise right now: write down
a list of all the things you did in 2005 that were great. All the
things you were really pleased with. Don't stop writing until you've
got at least fifteen. Anything you were proud you did. Small things,
big things. Work things, family things, pleasurable things. Get
your diary out or anything else out that can remind you. This is
your 'Glory List' for last year.
Now look at the things you've got
on there. Some might be holidays you've had, achievements at work,
skills you've learnt or whatever. Get another piece of paper. Write
at the top, 'Glory List 2006'. Go through your 2005 list and write
down two things for every one thing yo u wrote down for 2005 that
are just a little bit better or are the next stage for whatever
the achievement was last year. Do it fast. Don't let your conscious
mind edit it. So if you put 'One week holiday in France' for last
year put 'Two weeks holiday in the Caribbean' for this year as well
as something else - or whatever's right for you.
Now you should have a list for 2006
with thirty things on it. This is your Glory List for 2006 that
you will be writing down on January 1st 2007, listing all the great
things you've done in 2006. The only difference is that you know
in advance what they will be, you've already done it! That is what
goal setting really is. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve
by when, writing it down and getting on with it as if it's bound
to happen.
You see, things will happen in 2006
anyway, whether you set goals or not. That's what happened in 2005
and all the years that preceded it. The simple act of writing down
what you actually want to happen means it's so much more likely
to actually happen. Next month we'll take the process further and
get more accurate. But don't let me find out that you haven't done
this simple exercise this time! Stop reading now and do it! |
