It’s the end of the year and a new year and a new beginning is right around the corner. I am not a big New Year’s resolution guy, but I am expecting this coming year to be one where I see greater success and more lives impacted because of my writing, speaking and coaching business. Whether you make any New Year’s resolution or not this year, to see that you are successful it takes thought and planning.
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"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
― Abraham Lincoln
The late South African economist Ludwig Lachmann once wrote, “The future is unknowable, though not unimaginable.” This is the dichotomy of a New Year’s resolution and a dream. I believe the future should be imagined but this is not the end all what most New Year’s resolutions tend to get stuck on. We need to imagine what this year will look like but then it needs to be created. The creation of what is imagined is worked out in planning. This is how your dream will become reality.
What do you hope to accomplish this year? What are your goals and dreams? Here are 3 simple to explain but hard to work out steps to accomplish your goals this year.
Think About What is Possible
My experience was that when I started school there was less time spent on dreaming and more time spent on rote learning. AS I look back, I know that the educational system was designed through the industrial revolution which makes sense on why it is designed the way it is. Our world today has changed so much that the opportunities are limitless in how we can learn and what we can learn about. This creates an unlimited possibility of what you can do and accomplish. I believe God places in our hearts a desire and passion. I challenge you as we are coming to the end of the year to take some time and reflect but most of all dream about what is possible for the year ahead!
Work Through How to Get There
This is probably the hardest part of accomplishing goals or fulfilling dreams. What I recommend which is a challenge is to plan to review what your dreams and goals are on a consistent basis. My process is to take about a day each year either at the end of the year or early at the beginning of the year to reflect, dream and write out the goals that I would like to accomplish for the year. Each quarter I will review them and recommit or recalibrate the goals I had set out to accomplish. The most important part of planning for me is to do a weekly review. This helps me consistently keep the goals in front of me but also it helps to focus the week to move the needle forward a step at a time. How do you plan to accomplish your goals this year?
Take the Needed Steps to Accomplish It!
By doing my weekly review and setting out the top three things that will help me accomplish my goals for that week, I take baby steps constantly towards the accomplishment of my goals. My challenge to you is to think about what you are doing each day. By being mindful of your goals and the “next” steps to get you to your goals, you will find that what you think is possible can be surpassed when you look back at the end of the year and see what you have accomplished.
I am excited to do my yearly review. I know that I did not hit all my goals but in the few minutes thinking about it here, I know I accomplished more this year than I would have without a plan. As Abraham Lincoln said. “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Thinking and planning are the keys to growth and success. How will you sharpen your axe in the days ahead to see greater success in the year ahead?
