To write a personal blog or a business blog… that is the question. Or make it applicable to both. Since I started Foster Inc. a year ago, I’ve kept my business blog strictly on my business website. WTHayley has always been my personal brain dump and the place where I can write about whatever I’m feeling and business associates and Clients won’t be offended. Well, for the sake of this post, I am merging and if we do business together and read my previous personal blog posts and you’re offended… Sorry, NOT sorry. I write from my heart and my gut and that’s just who I am and always will be.
As the end of the year is quickly approaching and I emphasize quickly, people begin to freak out… And I’m not just taking about holiday shopping. Many of us use the end of the year to reflect and think back on what the year was like. Did I set out with a goal in mind? Did I reach that goal? Did I want to lose weight, workout more? Eat healthier? Save more money? Whatever your goals were for this past year and whether or not you achieved them, chances are you will write many of the same ones down again for next year. What we rarely do is analyze why we didn’t reach that goal, what road bumps slowed us down and what actually got in our way. When you reflect, you can better plan and strategize for how to go about things differently next year so that we don’t make the same mistakes again. As you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again but expecting a different result. Thanks Einstein. So, are you going to start 2016 off as an insane person or better equipped for success?
Wether or not you are thinking about your goals for 2016 from a business or life perspective – or hopefully both – below is what I have done (and I am still doing) to plan for the year ahead.
- Grab a piece of paper and write down what your goals were for this past year – 2015.
- On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being SUCCESS, how would you rate yourself on each goal? Be honest, “failure is the opportunity to begin again, onlybthisntime more intelligently.” (Henry Ford)
- What did you do/actions you took to be successful?
- What didn’t you do that you should have done?
- What/who got in your way?
- What could you change moving forward?
Before you put pen to paper for your new 2016 goals, I want you to close your eyes, obviously when you’re done reading this entire post, and do this short visualization exercise. We get so caught up in the things we want to do or not do, but don’t necessarily think about who we want to BE.
- Close your eyes
- Take three deep breaths
- Ask yourself ‘who do I want to BE in 2016’
- Picture yourself a year from now as that person you want to BE
- As your future self, what did you need to DO to get yourself there – actually try to picture yourself going through those steps
- Now that you’re there, what do you HAVE that you didn’t have before
- Open your eyes -hopefully your smiling
- Grab your pen and write down what you just saw – who you became this year and how you did it.
To give you an easy example to follow, let’s talk about the person that starts the year off with the goals of working out and eating healthier. Taking the BE approach, that persons goal should be that they want to ‘be more disciplined‘, in order to DO more workouts and cook healthier meals in order to HAVE a healthier lifestyle. By also looking back on last year, they could probably conclude that the reason they failed was because X and Y got in the way. Being disciplined and recognizing that discipline was what they needed each day, they may have avoided looking back with regret that they didn’t do a better job reaching those goals.
When you think about what YOU want to BE in 2016, try to find a word, just ONE, that is all encompassing. Underneath that word, you should be able to list the things you’ll need to DO so that you can HAVE….
As coach-like as this sounds (it’s sorting bothering me that it is so coach-like), it’s been tested and works. You can’t keep setting the same goals and doing the same things to reach them and expect success if you don’t change your plans and formulate new strategies. Picture yourself as a success and you will be!
wthayley 
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” – Jim Rohn b. 1930