Tip 1: Upside Down Goal Setting

We will open the book. Its pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity and
its first chapter is New Year’s Day.
Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I’m not a great fan of New Year Resolutions. Naturally, the dawning of a brand new year is a great time to take stock and think about all the changes we want to make; but experience shows that the majority of resolutions fall by the wayside, and by February most of us will be back to our bad old ways.

So if you want to make changes — and like the idea of doing things a bit differently this year — here’s a new approach:

Imagine that it’s the end of the year and you’re sitting down to reflect on the successes and achievements of the year just passed. Sit down with paper and pen and at the top of the page write “20_ _ was a great year for me because …” Then simply write a list of all the things you’ve achieved and what it was that made it such a great year.

It may feel a bit strange, but you’ll be surprised at how much easier it is to approach things this way. Imagining that your successes have already happened is a great way to set your intentions for the remainder of the year and should leave you feeling inspired, energised and motivated. That’s a lot better than the sinking feeling that so often accompanies setting New Year Resolutions.

All you have to do now is plan how you’re going to make those achievements happen. Using a year planner, diary or Outlook, make a note of what you need to do and when. Some goals will be straightforward, e.g. book weekend break in May. Others may require action on a daily or weekly basis. Break bigger goals down into small action steps and schedule each step.

To help you get started, you can download a handy Goal Planner (5 Goals to Reach in the Next 90 Days) from the Free Stuff page on my website.

The future is simply infinite possibility waiting to happen.
What it waits on is human imagination
to crystallize its possibility.
Leland Kaiser

Write it down.
Written goals have a way of transforming
wishes into wants; cant’s into cans;
dreams into plans; and plans into reality.
Don’t just think it - ink it!
Author Unknown