This question came to mind as I realized the year was winding down - a month and 7 days to Christmas, from today, November 18th! For a lot us it's the time when we look back and get a sense of if 2018 was successful for us!?
And then we start looking to 2019 and thinking about what we want to do in 2019 to make it a successful year. It’s interesting that the start of a new calendar year has that effect on many of us.
When do you start thinking about the next year and how to make it successful? What year do you look at - is it the calendar year? Is it the next school year? Is it the next fiscal year? Do you look at the next quarter, fiscal or calendar?
No matter what timeframe you look at and think about, getting the most out of it means setting the right goals for yourself. Are you a goalsetter?
There are many approaches that people use to set goals for themselves and you will see it in just about every reference to setting goals that the only ones that will sustain your effort are:
the ones that line up with who you are and where you want to go;
the ones you write down;
the ones you look at every day;
the ones you do something about most days;
the ones you track your progress on daily - even if there was no progress that day.
Being a goalsetter and goal-tracker allow for celebration when a goal is accomplished and you become a goal-closer. Celebrating helps us feel good about all the work we have done to accomplish our goal! Feeling good keeps us coming back to goals!
I have to share with you that I am getting better at setting goals myself. You would think that as a coach and a new business owner, I’d be all over the same processes that I use with others. I try to be that good. I need to work on it just as much as anyone else.
What I know is that when I set goals that line up with me and with where I am going - for real - the goal-tracking feels easy and each step closer feels better than the last.
When I set goals that don’t line up with me or where I am going or are goals I “believe” I should have, they usually don’t get done - I feel bad. If I try to do them they are a painful task - I feel bad because I “should” be able to accomplish the goal. So, now when I feel like that about a goal, I ditch it. It’s done. It’s gone and I don’t worry about it anymore.
If I set a goal to replace the one I ditched, it will take some time to reflect on it and get it right.
Are you a goalsetter? Are you a goal-tracker? Are you a goal-closer? Only 4% of us are are all three!