Welcome to "SIMPLE, SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - Dec 31, 2008:
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Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
And Support The Systems of Life that Support Us All!
Bruce Elkin: Life/Work Design & Renewal Coach
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Hi All,
I am writing this on the eve of a new year, a time when many are reflecting on the past year, and setting their goals for the new. This will be the 6th New Year's that I've pondered these ideas in print, and there is one universal thing that jumps out at me.
Goals are great. You need goals. Action is great. You won't achieve your goals unless you take action. (Sorry, Law of Attraction believers, but it's true!) But you need more than goals and actions. You need a framework—a structure—that integrates goals, actions, and ongoing reality.
Take for example this nice quote that came across my screen this morning:
"Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point."
-- Harold B. Melchart
Great sentiment, nice poetry, and maybe good advice for following a well trod path up an easy mountain. But it does not really provide good instructions for either climbing a difficult mountain or creating the life, work, and relationships you long for in the difficult times we now face. So what's missing?
Long-time readers will recognize that the writer says nothing about watching your feet, paying attention to the path—grounding yourself (and your vision) in current reality. Along with a clear, compelling vision of your goal, to create real and lasting results, you must also have a clear, objective understanding of where you are, where you're starting, and where you are along the way.
Without a clear sense of current reality, it is difficult to know which actions to take. Your actions are likely to be driven less by vision and more by moment-to-moment moods and feelings. How many times do people resolve, on January 1, to lose weight, quit smoking, and go to gym, but lose motivation and quit sometime in February or March. Countless times!
Why? Because they lack a structure that connects their vision/goals to their current reality and sets up a framework for making good decisions, taking good actions, and learning from both their mistakes and successes. So what are we to do?
First, see your goals and New Year's resolutions as creations you truly want to bring into being. Do not see them as solutions to problems, or your focus will shift to the problem and the bad feelings associated with the problem and the process will feel onerous and depressing. Your motivation will fade.
Second, do frame your goals/visions in a structure such as the structure of creating. In it vision, reality, and action are integrated into a dynamic framework in which you can easily learn from your own experience, correct mistakes, and build the momentum needed to carry you through difficult times, and times when motivation fades (the "I don't feel like it" times).
Third, understand that creating anything, let alone what truly matters to you, takes time and effort—in a word, practice. Practice may not make you perfect but it will help you make progress, learn what you need to know and do to create your goals, and ease you across the flat part of the learning curve (the first 80%) to that sweet, steep part where results come fast and easy (the last 20%).
So frame your goals as creations. Embed them in a framework that includes current reality and action. Practice, practice, practice until you get them right. Then enjoy the rewards and fulfillment of success!
If you want more detailed instructions in goal setting or jumpstarting success or renewing your dreams and setting up a framework in which to make those dreams a reality, I recommend these articles on my HubPage site:
• The Top Seven Reasons Most Goal Setting Does NOT Work, And What To Do About It.
http://hubpages.com/hub/From-Fit-to-Stretch
• Renew Your Dreams; Create Authentic Success
http://hubpages.com/hub/7-Reasons-Most-Goal-Setting-Does-Not-Work--And-What-To-Do-About-It
• Jumpstart Personal and Professional Success—And Keep It Moving!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Jumpstart-Your-SuccessAnd-Keep-It-Moving
If you're feeling down, or fear that setting goals will just lead to disappointment, I recommend you take a look at:
• Sandra's Story: I Took Back The Energy It Takes To Pout—And Changed My Life!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Reclaim-Your-Life-Take-Back-The-Energy-It-Takes-To-Pout
• Authentic Success: Your Ordinary Self Is Good Enough!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Your-Ordinary-Self-Is-Good-Enough
Don't forget to give me a "thumbs up", if you like the piece, and leave me a comment telling me why you liked it. And feel free to share it with others via the "share it" button.
Happy Reading!
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QUOTABLE QUOTES:
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"We often spend so much time coping with problems along our path that we only have a dim or even inaccurate view of what's really important to us."
-- Peter Senge
"Life's up and downs provide windows of opportunity to determine... [your] values and goals...Think of using all obstacles as stepping stones to build the life you want."
-- Marsha Sinetar
“What (we) actually need is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of (us). What (we) need is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by (us).”
— Viktor Frank
"Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is. And the faith to trust our own admission. The admitting is often very difficult."
-- Julia Cameron
"Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles."
-- Helen Keller
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I wish you a great New Years and a wonderful, results-filled 2009.
Enjoy!
Bruce |
