Each new year generates an opportunity to reflect on our lives. There is an energy in the air around this time of year that seems to open new possibilities for us. Ultimately, we are confronted with the question – am I living my life in a way that honors what is most important to me. In facing this question, many of us are compelled to generate some resolutions that are meant to improve the quality of our lives. Yet, – be honest – how many of your New Year’s resolutions have come to fruition? Promises of being more patient, more disciplined, spending more time with our families to eat and drink less, to not allow ourselves to get distracted, to focus on major sales results, etc. are many times distant memories by the time we reach the middle of February. So what happens to all this positive energy and why do we fail? There are a number reasons for the lack of success – including:

• We feel a sense of urgency around our resolutions that is driven by the desire to reduce the anxiety we feel around some unfulfilled picture of perfection in our lives or work. When we are driven by anxiety – habits rarely change.  Once the anxiety dissipates at all – we are lean back into our old habits.
• We make a list of resolutions off the top of our head based on what we feel we “should” do or be rather than asking deeper questions around what we really want. If we really don’t want something we won’t make the effort.
• We create too many resolutions and therefore quickly lose focus and disengage when faced with our day to day lives. We just bite off more than we can chew and our resolutions collapse.
• We try to accomplish a goal fully within the first week of the year (e.g. We commit to working out 5 times a week – we accomplish this the first week but then slowly peter out – before you notice you are not going to the gym at all).

Do any of these reasons resonate for you? If not, you may find others that are personal obstacles to change in your life.   I admit I am a recovering idealist so many of these do resonate.  What I have come to realize is that one year is a short marker in my life. The question becomes do I want that marker to be a momentum builder or just another year that I tried to make a number of important shifts – only to fail? Over the last couple years I have shifted the way I approach creating annual goals. I have realized that it is not easy to change a habit. To do so takes consistent effort – day to day and I have to integrate this change of habit as life happens. Therefore I have come up with a more holistic and simplistic approach to setting goals. Ultimately I want to end the year with a sense of accomplishment and a sense I am building of momentum year to year.

In order to succeed at this I now do the following:

• I have developed a clear vision for who I want to be and what I want to have happen in each domain of my life. These domains include spirituality, health and vitality, my relationship with my wife, my relationship with my children/step-children, my work, financial freedom, play and leisure, friends and community.
• Under each of these I have developed what Leo Babauta calls “Life Goals.” These are goals that will manifest as my visions are turning into reality – over my life time. Some examples include level of energy I maintain as I age, my ideal weight, the state of my relationships, growth of my visibility as a thought leader in my field, revenue growth in my business, scuba diving sites I want to experience, etc. Again, these are goals based on my desired experiences in each domain of my life as noted.
• I then review the vision for each area and the longer term goals and ask myself the following questions for the upcoming year:
  • What am I truly passionate about focusing on this year?
  • What could I focus on this year that would create the most momentum for achieving my other life goals?
  • If I changed one or two things in my life this year – which one’s would make the biggest difference to me?
  • What habits do I need to change to ensure that I make that happen?

• Once I answer these questions I set one – maybe two big goals for myself personally and for my business and that’s it.
• Finally, I do not try to accomplish the goal in one fell swoop. For example, I may set a goal to work out at least four times a week for at least 45 minutes but I don’t expect to get there in the first week of the year. I break it down to starting with a smaller chunk – let’ say 10 minutes – 3 times a week for the first couple weeks and build from there. I do set a date by when I will be doing the full goal yet I give myself the time it takes to shift the necessary habits to succeed.
• Each week I review my annual goals and select 3 things I can accomplish the move those goals forward (again as suggestion from Leo Babauta’s productivity system). I put those items first on my list for the week so that they can be accomplished. This builds momentum for the rest of the week and provides me with a way to monitor my effectiveness of moving things forward.

If you have not really established visions for each domain of your life – don’t let that stop you. Keep it simple and just focus on the two things you most want to accomplish personally and two things you would most like to accomplish in your business and/or leadership role. Then generate a laser focus on these goals. Break these down into weekly accomplishments that will move you forward and increase your momentum. If you do this consistently you will be surprised how much your life has moved forward five years from now!

Additional Resources:

ZenHabits – This is Leo Babauta’s blog on productivity. It’s one of my favorites and simplifies both forwarding what is most important to you as well as organizing your business and life.

The Illuminated Mind – This is Jonathan Nausman’s blog oriented to helping us enhance clarity, focus and empowerment – so that we can live a life worth living.

Tags: Empowerment, Personal Engagment, Personal Fulfillment, Setting Goals

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 1st, 2009 at 2:02 pm and is filed under Personal Engagement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.