I always think I’ll do better this year. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to be a very human habit – to think that this year will be better. Why will it be better? Because I will behave better; I will be luckier; I will kick my bad habits. Truth is, if I want my year to be better, I’ll have to do something different. Or wait for the luck to kick in. But I’ve never found that to work particularly well, mainly because I have no control over it.
Goals Instead of Resolutions
So, as I banged those pots in our street at Midnight (I know, those neighbours who don’t stay up must love this local habit) and danced to excellent music until 2am I knew that I’d need to make some plans for change.
And yesterday I met up with a friend for our annual Best Year Yet development day. This involves some preparation using the excellent questions in Jinny Ditzier’s ‘Best Year Yet’ book, then a lot of tea and cake while teasing out the plans and the changes we want to see for ourselves in the coming year. You could do this on your own – it doesn’t need another person – but the role of your friend is to offer phrases such as: ‘really? you said that last year’ or ‘I think you’re better at that than you think’ and other such probing interventions.
Roles
After the probing come the all-important goals. These relate to the different roles you play in your life; for example, sister, business-owner, business partner, life partner, parent, friend, and so on. And the most important role is self-manager. This is my role in looking after myself, my health, my soul……..
And if I choose to improve a particular role, what are my goals for doing that differently?
It works!
I used to think planning your year/life was a ridiculous idea. But then I watched people who did it and saw that they were 100 times more likely to get what they wanted from their lives, and had to change my mind and try it for myself. Today I’m already doing things differently because I have a new sense of direction
So, how would you like this year to be different for you? And how will you help that happen?