by Kevin Baker, MBA
Do Not Give Up on Your 2017 Goals!
Since it is about that time people quit their goals for the new year, discover a simple and easy plan to stay on track for your 2017 goals. Email me after reading this for a free no obligation worksheet to help you set goals for 2017!
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. –Jim Rohn
A favorite speaker of mine says, “Most people set broad, general goals of what they want in their future. That’s fine. But, that’s not where the real progress occurs. That happens when we break down larger goals into manageable smaller pieces. Pieces that we believe in and see as being easily accomplished.”
That is the one easy step to 2017 being the year you actually make progress on your life. Break your big goal into smaller manageable pieces. During the Christmas and New Year break, my wife and I took a bush walk on the “Elysian Rock” trails in Katoomba, Australia. This unmarked trail is known to the locals. The view of the Blue Mountains looking east toward Sydney is breathtaking. About half way on our hike, we discovered a bridge over a deep canyon. The bridge reminded me of our goals on one side and accomplishing them on the other side.
Explorers and Goals
In Tim Flannery’s book, “The Explorers,” I read about the first European explorers to cross the Blue Mountains into the Australian interior. George Blaxland, William Wentworth, and Lieutenant Lawson made it their goal to find a way through the treacherous canyons, cliffs, and ridges to produce the first mapped path of these mountains.
As they made their way through the lower mountains to the upper mountains, achieving their goal was difficult. There were dead ends, obstacles, and abounding hardships and challenges. They were also fighting against a deadline to return the 58 miles back down the mountain into the Sydney basin before the winter came in June.
As I walked these mountains I was thinking about goals for 2017. Development of anything worth doing starts with goals. We start with a dream; a big picture view. Like looking at The Blue Mountains from above and afar, it looks beautiful. Yet, as we begin our journey, we soon discover at ground level the trials ands challenges we encounter to achieve our goals.
Action Steps to Achieving Goals
Goal setting at the beginning of a new year is a ritual that everyone seems to laugh about. Goals are set, then we quickly return back to our normal habits when we encounter dead ends, obstacles, hardship, and challenges that stand in the way to achieving our goals. It is at that point of being tempted to give up, usually about two weeks into January, that we can regroup. Here is how.
–Get a journal with a cover on it, then come back. I call it my Goals and Action book, or “G&A Book.” Here is a picture of mine:
–Clearly define, on paper, two important goals you want to accomplish in 2017. Goals may be personal goals, career goals, work goals, family goals–whatever.
–Break down those goals into the pieces you need to accomplish in the next 30 days. It may take all year or multiple years to achieve a goal (like earning a degree or buying a new house). Yet, the journey to achievement begins by taking one, small, manageable step at a time.
–Assign what dates you will work on each piece of your goal. For example, I want to lose 25 pounds this year.
January 8-14: Renew my understanding of Atkins diet foods for induction phase, plan one week of meals and write a shopping list and go shopping Thursday. Take a walk for 15-20 minutes before dark with wife.
January 15-21: Eat low carb. Write down when I am tempted to cheat and what was going on in my head at that moment. Discuss with wife and ask her to help me get through temptations to go back to the old ways.
–Action is next. Each week, read your goal and action journal. Review what you did or did not achieve, and write down your thoughts about it. Taking some form of action every week on your weekly goals = progress. Watch what happens! A life coach can help you stay on track. Email me to learn how to have me be your coach!
You can do it in 2017! Break down the big goal into small pieces in the next 24-48 hours is your first action step. Do it!