Remember when you were a kid playing games with your friends? Then when something would go wrong in the game you would yell out “do over!” which allowed you a fresh start.
As adults we have a Do Over in a sense and it’s called New Year’s Day. It’s an opportunity for you to revisit the previous year looking at where you failed as well as where you succeeded.
Every year people make all kinds of resolutions to do better than the previous year but as the year progresses and New Year’s day fades into the rear view mirror of time we gradually slip into our regular habits and life carry’s on as usual.
This is especially noticeable if you go to the gym on a somewhat regular basis. Every January the gym is packed and you have to wait to use the equipment. Then by mid or late March all those new people stop coming to the gym.
I know I’m the same way with other aspects in my life where I set goals for Health, Spiritual, Wealth and Personal goals that end up fading away due to life demands of my time.
So this brings us to the ultimate question what do you do about it? Why is it you forget about the New Year’s Do Over as you go through the year?
The approach you might want to consider is to condense your years’ worth of goals into four 3 month periods. I first learned about this approach in a book called The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington.
This is an extreme approach to attaining your goals but can be effective if you focus on your high pay-off activities with laser focus for each of the goals you’re trying to attain.
By using a 3 month period as your year you are more likely to obtain the end result because you don’t have another nine months to forget about your goals.
Just as you finish the first 3 months and start getting tired of dealing with it it’s time to move onto the next 3 month period with a new set of goals.
This method allows you to stay focused throughout the year and if you implement day to day activities the sum of which will make big changes in your life.
Here is a simple approach you can start using today to help you achieve your goals:
- Define and document the areas of your life you want to change for the better.
- Write down the reasons WHY you want to change.
- Write down what the end result of the change looks like to allow you to see yourself in the end result.
- Define low value activities that you can eliminate from your life for a period of time until you achieve your goal. This could be something like watching TV, playing video games or participating in some type of sports activity. This will help you reclaim time throughout the week.
- Prioritize your goals. You don’t have to implement all of your goals in the first three months. Remember you have four 3 month periods. You can decide to implement a specific goal in any quarter of the year. So write down which goals you want to achieve within each quarter.
- Set your three month goal deadline dates. For each of your goals break down what must done each month, week and day to achieve your desired goals.
- Define the daily time periods you will implement your high impact activities.
- Tell your family or significant other what you are trying to accomplish and to expect changes in the way you’re living your life. People will be more understanding when you can’t participate in some activity that is not in line with your goals.
- Schedule a small amount of time at the end of each day to review your daily progress and if there are any tweaks you need to make in your day to day routines.
- Print out your daily task list and carry it with you. This will keep you focused on high impact activities and avoid time wasting.
The ten steps outlined above will help you stay focused on your quarterly goals.
Then by the end of the year you can look back with a sense of accomplishment and know that you made your dreams come to true.
Know that you know how to accomplish your goals it’s time to get to work. Consistent daily action is the key to your success.
Nothing in your life is going to change unless you make the change happen.
If you have want to work for yourself in your own IT consulting business make this year the year it actually happens.
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