Tag Archives: plans

New Year New…

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1228281080_f40150c22fIt’s a new year! Have you made your resolutions? Isn’t that what everyone asks at this time of year?

I’ve made one. One single resolution: to make goals instead of resolutions!

If you’ve ever made New Year’s resolutions you probably have a drawer full of well intentioned resolutions that amounted to nothing much. Those 2 weeks at the gym were very expensive. We intended to go all year but let’s face it our resolve lasted about 2 weeks. And those small sized clothes? They’re still in the back of the closet. If resolutions worked, well we would be living a very different life than the one we are.

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

res·o·lu·tion

noun \ˌre-zə-ˈlü-shən\

: the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc. : the act of resolving something

: an answer or solution to something

Did you find a solution? Not by resolving to lose weight, or get fit, or make more money. No list of dreams for the coming year, no yellow sticky of affirmation, no frequently visited list of hopes will solve a problem just because we want it to.

Resolutions can lead to discouragement if they remain resolutions without being turned into action plans. We need clear steps and plans to turn those hopes into reality. Buying a gym membership is no guarantee of reaching your fitness goal. Opening a savings account will not change your finances. Cutting out photos of beautiful beaches will not whisk you to your dream vacation spot.

Let’s take the common resolution to lose weight this year. Ok, how much weight? How long will we keep it off? How will we do it? What are we willing to change in our life to accomplish this? What are we willing to get rid of? What are we willing to add to our life? Do we have the time? Is it that important? These are questions we need to ask before we begin the journey. Why? Because losing weight is not something that happens by accident or by good intention. It takes effort, and it takes change in a lot of areas of our lives. Just wanting to do it this year is likely to leave us disappointed.

How about getting out of debt? A great and noble desire, but without clear steps to do that we are likely to end up in a bigger hole at the end of 2014 than the one we started in. We need a plan with specific steps, tangible goals and measurable results in order to succeed.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock of our lives and make course adjustments to help us reach the goals and dreams we have. It’s a great time to create sensible plans with manageable steps to achieve our goals. Sometimes we need help figuring out how to create those steps and plans. This is where having a great coach helps.

Buy a book from someone who truly has a track record of helping others achieve the same goals they claim to have reached. Take a class and learn about what it takes to make those dreams reality.  Ask questions.

This January you can begin a new year with new goals and dreams coming true. It’s going to take work and patience, but you can do it. This year instead of resolving to… let’s set goals make step by step plans for transformation.

© Mmulligan | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

Insert Appropriate Inspiration Here

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Inspiration. We all need it. We all want it. We also roll our eyes at it when we are not feeling in the mood for it.

There are days when a Whim, a Meme or inspiration picture floats across my Facebook feed and I’m moved to tears. Then there are days when a similar inspirational thought (or even the same one) floats across my feed and I roll my eyes and grunt. We all have days that are a tougher go than others. Sometimes it’s not days, it’s weeks, months and even years.

Sometimes when our dreams, our goals and desires get foiled we feel lost, confused and bewildered. We can’t quite figure out which way is up anymore and what we should do next. Up until this moment we knew exactly what needed to be done, in what order and when. We knew the next step. We knew the plan. We knew the goal. Now everything seems to be changing and we just don’t know what to do next. It’s very disorienting.

For the last four years I knew exactly what I was doing, how I was doing it and what the outcome was to be. I had the goal in front of me. I knew how this goal fit into my life and how it would pave the way for the next step. I was in business not because I so believed in the business I was in I couldn’t help myself. I was in business because it aligned with my goals, dreams, values and visions and it was a vehicle to get me to where I wanted to go. It was a means to an end and not an end in itself.

Then over the last few months something so sure, so certain, so predictable felt like it was unraveling all around me. It wasn’t really, it was just shifting, but to me it felt like everything I saw for my future was coming apart. Lots of soul searching. Lots of questions. Lots of wisdom sought, counsel requested. Lots of talking it through, thinking, praying, wondering.

In the middle of it all a little thread began to appear. The thread that seemed so insignificant at first I almost ignored it. Answers weren’t forthcoming to my questions so I decided to focus on this little thread and see where it would lead. As I wound the thread into a little ball, the yarn grew and the path became clearer. An epiphany!

In the midst of what looked like a pause on the future I longed for was actually an opportunity! The business and the dream weren’t two sides of the same coin. They were, and are, two mutually beneficial parts, each whole and separate from the other. What looked like disappointment became fulfillment and redirection. One didn’t lead into the other. They are meant to work together, independently but cooperatively side by side.

Sometimes what looks like a delay, a disappointment or a step backwards is really a huge leap forward toward your dream and your destiny. Sometimes what looks like a delay is really a short cut.

Be brave!