Setting goals for the New Year

Many of us make New Year's Resolutions for the coming year - - e.g. to lose weight, to do more exercise, to stay better connected with relatives, etc, etc.

But, even more of us DON'T.  We don't make ANY resolutions, because we either do not have (or avoid setting) GOALS.

I like what Harvey Mackay had to say about "Goal Setting" in an article that appeared in the Orange County (California) Register newspaper on January 2, 2010.

Mackay said that one can get by without setting goals - - most people do.  They fall into a routine and inertia carries them through life.  They never suffer great disappointments in their work or life, but they never get very far along their career path, or in fulfilling their life's dreams, either.  Then, before they know it, it's all over, and they realize that they could have accomplished so much more if only they had set some goals and had been willing to risk failure.

Getting by without setting goals is the ultimate form of self-delusion.  It is a guaranteed way for people to achieve failure without ever having to admit it to themselves.

With the New Year upon us, this is the perfect time to set your goals for the year, for the decade or for the rest of your life.  After all, if you don't set goals to determine where you are going, how will you know if, or when, you get there?

Goals not only give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive to keep you going all day.  Goals tend to tap the deeper resources and draw the best out of life.  Achieving goals produces significant accomplishments.

Mackay believes that goals need to be realistic; beyond your current grasp, but within your reach in the foreseeable future. 

Setting goals is a step-by-step process:

1. DREAMING. This is fun and easy to do. Take a pen and legal pad and write down whatever it is you REALLY want.  Free your mind and open yourself to possibilities that you might not necessarily recognize otherwise. 
2. GOAL-SETTING.  Most importantly, setting good goals is about plotting the incremental, but necessary steps to start the journey.  The achievement of a goal requires the accomplishment of little steps.  Document each of those little incremental steps.
3. SET A TIME FRAME. Set a time frame for the accomplishment of each of those little incremental steps.
4. BE COURAGEOUS.  Don't be scare to try the unknown.  Rather than letting the ultimate goal scare you, keep focused on your next small incremental step - - and "do it."  Before you know it, you will have accomplished your goal.

Here's to a good BETTER life !