The new year 2018 is in full swing. We are all seeing our Health and Fitness Clubs filled along with our favorite exercise classes.. Besides having to wait on a machine for your reps or for a piece of class exercise equipment like a spin bike since they are all taken, I take some comfort in know that this too shall pass.
There are those of us who go to the Health Club all year and have our programs set. There are those who start the new year with the best of intentions. They have their new year’s resolutions for fitness and diet and other things written down. Blah…Blah…Blah.
Then what happens? After a few weeks of this, that early morning workout gets too hard to get up to get to. The workout after work just seems to hard to get into because your day has been too crazy…and the initiative along with the resolution goes by the wayside. That dessert just looks too good…I need to have a couple more of those drinks to loosen up and chill. This ________ (fill in the blank) will be cool for me just this once… and the beat goes on. And that Resolution is history- gone!
This same story holds true for resolutions or goals having to do with diet, smoking, being more present, attentive…the possibilities are as different as there are people on this planet.
The real reason these resolutions fail is because we don’t make the WHY compelling enough.
The definition of a Goal according to Merriam Webster is :the end toward which effort is directed.
Goals need to be specific. They need to be measurable. They need to have a specific end date when this goal needs to be accomplished.Progress needs to be checked regularly. Most of us know these things about goals but what most people seem to forget is the WHY attached to the goal. I think if we make the WHY strong enough and we write it down, we can remember it when we have the inevitable events that will test our resolution toward completing this goal.
This is what differentiates a goal from a mere resolution. Resolutions are things that people want to have happen. The importance and emphasis on resolutions at the beginning of the year is because the new year is seen as a new start as well. Unfortunately, many new years resolutions fall by the side of the road because there hasn’t been a compelling enough WHY . The resolution then is nothing more than a wish. A thought that this would be great if it occurred but with little thought given to how to accomplish this thing.
Here are some Goals . They are usually not Resolutions ; Sales Targets, People and Networking Goals, Sales Territory Action Plans…these are all things we put together with our budgets . The questions are:
1.What are your prepared to do to accomplish this goal?
2. Why is it that this goal is so important? What does it mean to you personally? What will it mean to your family if you accomplish it? What will it mean if you do not accomplish it because you let it slide?
3. How do you know you are progressing toward your goals?
4. How often are you checking on your goals in various areas? It should be during your weekly review or at the very least, during your monthly review which I find is best done on the 1st of the month.
5. Do you have your main goals written someplace like in a Memo on your phone that you can check when you have an open time while waiting to see a client or prospect?
6. Who can help you in the achievement of your goals? Who is part of your mastermind group? How can you make yourself accountable and also reciprocate by having someone be accountable to you? Do not give up when you get into the bump and grind stage of working on a goal. Stick to the goal, you may have to modify or make some course corrections but keep moving toward the goal.
When you make sure you have answered these questions, you are well on your way to set your sights on the prize and accomplish these goals…not let them fall by the wayside .
Remember- KEEP THE WHY CLEAR AND IN FRONT OF YOU!
Here is to you and your team’s great success in 2018 . Set Goals not Resolutions and move your team and your life forward.