3 Fail-Proof Ways to Have a Successful Year

When I was young, my Mother used to ask me to draw a picture for her. Being the budding artist, I would gladly oblige. I would get some paper and grab my best HB pencil. Then, several minutes later, Mom would sneak a peek at the page.

Nothing.

I couldn’t decide what to draw! Hours would go by and I would be wandering around the house looking for something to draw. Little did I realize, but there were thousands of things I could choose. Crazy!

January seems to be when everyone talks about setting goals and resolutions. Recently a friend confessed they loved to set goals, but it’s difficult to decide what goals to set! And just like the young artist, there are thousands of things we can set goals for.

You just have to have a plan.

I’m a goal lover. I love to set goals. I set goals when I start almost everything. When I clean my car, I see if I can do it a bit faster. When I design a logo, I set how long it should take and challenge myself to creating a certain amount of designs. I even set goals about getting blogs written.

So how do I tackle a new year? Here’s a potential outline that helps you focus.

1. Consider these 4 broad areas of your life:
   • Personal (this is who you are and what you’d like to do or be)
   • Family/Friends (your inner circle. How do you picture your accountability team?)
   • Work (Wow, imagine getting better at what you do. People will notice!)
   • Spiritual (We all have a God-sized hole in our hearts. How will you fill it?)
2. Then think about time frames:
   • Long term: 5 years is a good starting point (you can more accurately guess what will happen. It’s just 60 months)
   • This year: yep, the next 12 months
   • This week. This is just 7 days, and very achievable.
3. Now close your eyes and imagine what you want to be like in those time frames. The cool thing about dreams? Everything is a perfect world. You can’t fail. You will be successful! Start long-term and set your goals. Then think shorter term (what would you need to do in order to reach the longer-term). Keep working towards what you’ll do this week.
4. Write down generalities in the long-term, then get more specific as you get closer to today’s goals. Did you catch the verb in that first sentence? Write it down! You’ll be more apt to succeed.

We start with a dream in a perfect world. Most people are quick to point out we don’t live in a perfect world. Duh! But most of us will end up anticipating bad things so much we only achieve the very least in our lives. So ignore them in your goals and adjust when “things” come along. Who knows? A bunch of bad things may not happen if you’re focused on the good. Let me know how you do!