I recently took my daughter to the zoo. She was fascinated watching a tiger pace along the fence of its enclosure. A little while longer, we observed a cougar doing the same thing.
The ground on which they trod was well worn, compressed and hardened. 8 inches away, plants stretched up from the earth, unmolested. Each of these animals was busy and quite focused on its task. But they weren’t going anywhere or experiencing anything new.
Sound familiar?
For a lot of people who’ve been at something for a while, they don’t in fact have multiple years of experience. They have one year of experience multiple times. If you’re income hasn’t grown, if your business has remained at the same level, if your frustrations are the same, if your relationships are the same, if your health/fitness is the same, you might be one of those people.
Make this the year in which you truly gain experience.
How, you say?
By changing something. Continuing along, doing things as you’ve always done them won’t create a new income. And, by the way, a pattern of changing what you are doing every 3-6 months is still a continuing way of doing things. One approach just cuts a well-worn path, like the tiger and cougar. The other is like trying to grow a crop when you repeatedly head out and plough the fields just before the seedlings reach sunlight.
This is the time of year when people reflect on the year that has passed and anticipate the year to come. You may be tempted to make resolutions for what you will achieve this year. I have one question for you: How has that worked for you in the past?
If the answer is “Not so well”, then why repeat it? The main reasons resolutions don’t work include:
- there are no steps laid out as to how that goal is to be achieved
- there are no timelines set out
- there is no accountability for the resolution, making it more a wish than a commitment
- often, there is lack of clarity as to how to achieve the resolution, possibly because some new skill is required.
In other words, there is no plan.
That plan should identify what skills are required, when they will be acquired (either by training or by hiring), what are the action steps, who is responsible for them, when will these be taken, what are the milestones along the way so you can meaningfully check on progress and, as importantly, why this goal is important to you. How will your life be made better? If this isn’t clear, then you may view this as some onerous list of “to do’s”, rather than a path to a better life.
If you’re not sure what skills you’ll need to achieve your goals, then please check out my free video series at http://www.profitwithprinciple.ca/?id=blog The first video gives an overview of all the things you will ultimately need to learn. You can then choose what to focus on this year.
If you’d like help planning, come out to our 90 Day Planning Session on Jan 6. In a half day, you’ll be guided in the creation of a one page plan that lays out the specific tasks you will engage in during the first quarter of 2012 so you can proactively make this the best year you’ve had in your business.
We’re in a different location this time. We’ll be at 4141 Yonge Street, on the 4thfloor. This is at Yonge and York Mills. There is lots of parking and is right on the subway route.
But however you do it, please move past resolutions and plan to make this the best year of your life!