Goals

New Year’s Resolutions or a Wish List?

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You might think you’re making New Year’s Resolutions but are you really just compiling a wish list?

Did you make a well intentioned list of resolutions at the start of 2010 which have failed to bear fruit? Could you take last year’s list and simply change the 2010 on the top of the list to 2011?

How do you make resolutions that work?

What’s the difference between New Year’s Resolutions and a wish list?

I’ve had an Amazon Wish List for quite some time. It’s a list of things I’d like, but simply listing those things doesn’t mean anything unless I, or someone else, decides to take action and buy something from the list. Wishing doesn’t make it happen.

If I say I’d like to make family time more of a priority this year, it’s a wish. If I book time in my diary and plan to give up activities that would otherwise get in the way of that happening, that’s a resolution.

If I say that I want to lose weight in 2011 that’s a wish. If I set out a sensible weight loss strategy with achievable short and long term goals though the year it’s a resolution.

If I say I’d like to read more over the next twelve months, that’s a wish. If I select some books, create a reading plan and then move other activities out of the way to give me the time to read, that’s a resolution.

Resolutions need a concrete action plan with achievable, measurable goals.

It can also be helpful to find someone who will keep you accountable to your goals. Maybe there’s someone with a similar goal or resolution who will work with you so that you can both achieve your plans. It might be someone who is already doing well in an area in which you’d like to improve. Ask them to help keep you moving towards your goal and to give you any advice you need to get there.

The other thing to keep in mind is that if we’re making lifestyle changes we’ll probably fail now and then. The aim is to keep going rather than just throwing in the towel the first time you trip up. Even if you don’t reach your goals at the set time, you’ll still be further down the track if you get up after a setback, dust yourself off, and start moving in the right direction again.

Sort your resolutions into categories.

If you are going to see 2011 as an opportunity for change you might like to break down your resolutions into various categories such as Health and Fitness, Spirituality, Family and Relationships, Finance, Career and other areas that touch your life.

Who do you want to be on the first of January 2012? What will you do during 2011 to make that a reality?

As 2010 draws to a close, are you going to make resolutions or a wish list for 2011?

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2011 – Towards Perfection

Dec 29th, 2010

by Rodney Olsen.

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By this time next year I’ll be perfect. I’ll have achieved my perfect weight and be 100% fit. I will have attained a perfect work/family balance. All my thoughts and actions will flow from absolutely pure motives. I will have absolutely no faults. In short, I’ll be an all round great guy.

Why do I get the feeling you don’t believe me?

Do any of us really think we’re going to achieve perfection in the coming year? I guess not.

The strange thing is that some of us act as if that’s the goal and nothing less will satisfy. We create New Year’s Resolutions that tend to fall apart within weeks and then beat ourselves up, considering ourselves as failures. We set the bar way too high and then end up crushed that we didn’t go the distance.

Our failure to achieve the goals and resolutions we set results in us becoming discouraged, before walking down the same path the following year, or giving up on setting goals completely.

I wonder if there’s another way to look at our goals.

If I want some New Year’s Resolutions for 2011 I could always adopt last year’s. After all, most of them are still in brand new condition. They haven’t been used at all. But I’m not too discouraged.

I set myself a goal to read a whole lot more. I didn’t read as much as I would have liked but I did read more than I had the previous year.

Even if I stayed on my bike for the next couple of days I can’t reach my goal to cycle 12 000 kilometres in 2010 but I have passed last year’s total and won’t miss the mark by too much.

I’ve battled with being overweight most of my life and in 2010 I failed to drop the kilograms I wanted but I am ending the year fitter than I started it.

I could go on but I think you get the idea. I created some goals and then set about achieving them. I’ve fallen short in many of those goals but I’m not completely discouraged. I made progress in many areas that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t have those goals. That doesn’t mean that I go into a new year with no intention of reaching my goals. What it does mean is that I know I’m not perfect but I am moving forward.

Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars. – Les Brown

Will you be making some New Year’s Resolutions for 2011? Can you look back on 2010 and see progress in some areas of your life?

I hope that you’ll set yourself some goals that will stretch and grow you and that you’ll be able to celebrate the wins along the journey even if you don’t quite make it to the destination.

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I don’t want to climb a mountain

May 22nd, 2010

by Rodney Olsen.

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Maybe I’m just not motivated enough but I really have no desire to go and climb Mount Everest, or any other mountain for that matter. I just don’t see the point. Heck, I’m not even going to climb a set of stairs if I really don’t need to do so.

I don’t have an issue with mountain climbers, or anyone else who sets huge, challenging goals, but it’s just not my thing.

A lot of people have taken to the idea of writing a bucket list; a list of things they want to do before they die. There are some things I’d like to achieve before that day comes, whenever it may be, but I won’t be adding mountain climbing to my bucket list. I also won’t add things like living in a villa in the south of France, sailing solo around the world, jumping out of an airplane, or inventing something that will revolutionise the world. All of those are fine goals but it seems to me that many people add unachievable goals to their bucket lists and then spend the rest of their lives miserable that they haven’t achieved them yet. Bucket lists can be a great tool when used correctly but they can also be an excellent way of living a very unfulfilled life.

One of my concerns with some bucket lists is that they turn life into a ledger of extraordinary experiences which may or may not be achievable. It’s as if life can only find its true meaning in the accomplishment of random items on a self prescribed list. We tick off each item once it’s done and then head off to find the next momentary thrill. It’s as if we need to take our focus off the everyday to seek some kind of greatness when in fact our true greatness is most often found in how we deal with our everyday lives. I wonder if we are diminishing the value of what we already have to seek after something we don’t really need.

What are some of my goals in life? To marry a beautiful and intelligent woman who I deeply love. Check. To have a couple of wonderful children who I absolutely adore. Check. To have good friends that I can depend upon. Check. To work in a job that I enjoy. Check.

They might be ‘ordinary’ goals, but they’re real and will continue to provide a greater satisfaction than some of the wild goals that many other people see as essential.

Of course I’ve had my fair share of extraordinary too. I’ve cycled across Australia five times, battled Indian traffic on a bicycle a number of times, escaped a foreign city in the grip of rioting, cycled beside the Canadian Rockies and lots more, but none of that brings the satisfaction of a life well lived with people I love.

Sure there are other adventures I’d like to make a reality such as seeing the Tour de France live or travelling more extensively, but those desires will continue to take a back seat to the contentment that comes from doing the ordinary as well as I can. I refuse to let everyday life suffer, or blame it for holding me back, just so that I can tick items off a list.

If you feel you really need a bucket list, you might want to add a few ordinary things to that list. You’ll find an excellent start at the very funny post
50 Amazingly Achievable Things To Do Before You Die by Mike at Fevered Mutterings.

How about you? Are you finding fulfillment in the everyday? Are there still some goals you’d like to achieve? How important is a bucket list for you?

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What’s on your bucket list?

Jan 27th, 2010

by Rodney Olsen.

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Do you have a bucket list? Is there a list of things you’d like to achieve before you die?

The Canadian Press has published a story titled, US teacher, 100, gets overdue degree a day before dying, crossing last item off “bucket list”. It tells the story of Harriet Richardson Ames, a retired US teacher who turned 100 on the 2nd of January. Her dream was to earn her bachelor’s degree in education. She received the degree on Friday and passed away on Saturday.

Harriet’s daughter, Marjorie Carpenter, says getting the degree was the last item on her mother’s bucket list.

The work required for the degree had been completed some years ago but Harriet didn’t know if she’d earned enough credits towards the bachelor’s degree. With her health failing she had been living in hospice care. College officials drove the document to Harriet’s bedside on Friday.

Through the years, she had taken classes to earn credits for her degree. With her eyesight failing, she stopped after retiring in 1971 and was never sure if she had enough credits.

Her wish for a degree became known when a Keene State film professor interviewed her a couple of years ago for a piece on the college’s own centennial, which the school celebrated last year.

The school decided to research her coursework and see if it could award Ames her long-sought diploma. The offices of the provost, registrar and other departments worked quickly in the last month to determine, that indeed, it could. – Canadian Press

I’ve heard many stories of people hanging on to life until they achieve something or see a particular person one last time. It’s amazing how strong the human will can be. That being the case maybe I should add something to my bucket list. “Live long enough to celebrate my 100th birthday.”

I wonder if this story is also a warning to us to make sure that we’re always moving forward and working towards something. Do you think that having specific goals gives us the strength and a reason to face and embrace each new day?

So what’s on your bucket list? What do you want to do before leaving this earth?

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Wondering about a new year

Dec 28th, 2009

by Rodney Olsen.

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In all the busyness of this time of year have you managed to set time aside to draft out a few New Year’s resolutions?

Maybe you’ll get some time over the next couple of days. I’m hoping to get something together before the end of Thursday so that I’m ready for Friday and a brand new year. I’ve got started with a few categories or areas of life where I want to see change or growth and I have most of the ideas of what they’ll look like in in my head. I simply need to commit them to paper … er … computer.

While many people don’t believe in such things I reckon that any time we can sit down and take stock of our lives and make plans for the time ahead is time well spent.

As with every year I’m sure that many will set all the usual resolutions about losing weight, getting fitter, quitting smoking, reducing debt and all the rest but I wonder what 2010 would look like if we made resolutions and goals about improving relationships with those close to us and then asked those people, or others, for help in staying accountable to those goals.

I wonder how things would be if we made resolutions about helping those we may not even know but who need a hand up.

How would 2010 shape up if we determined that family was more important than the demands of work and then structured our schedules accordingly?

What would it be like if we decided that 2010 was the year that we would look beyond the physical and material things of this world to discover deeper spiritual meaning?

I wonder.

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