What Are Your Goals for 2012?

For some of you, reading this is going to be one of the most important things you’ll ever read…

Making priorities happen: Jesse with Malick (L) and Moses (R) during a recent family vacation

It will be the catalyst for magnificent changes in your life… it will be a moment that lives in your memory forever. Sound crazy?

I’m dead serious… because what I’m about to share with you completely changed my life… I went from feeling like a failure and not deserving success or love to knowing that I’m a wonderful person and deserve all that I receive based on my efforts.

So I want to ask you two things right now…

1. Are you happy with your life?
2. What are your goals for 2012? I mean, if you could make any changes you wanted to this coming year, what would they be?
(I’d seriously like you to share your answers with me… I’ll tell you how later so keep reading)

Right about now millions of people are dreaming up their “New Year’s Resolutions,” and unfortunately, 95% of them will most likely never happen.

It’s true… and I’m guessing you’ve “been there and done that” before too, right?

Well, I’d like to share with you the proven goal achieving formula I use… notice I didn’t say goal setting… because we all know what happens if we set a goal but never move towards achieving it.

In addition to this powerful, step-by-step “success formula,” I’m also going to share some additional tools and resources you can use to make success even easier.

Ok, so let’s start with the formula…

Step #1: Identify the goal

In order for you to achieve your goal it must meet these four criteria:

• It must be specific
• It must be stated in positive language
• It must be measurable
• It must be written

So an example of a goal that meets all of the above criteria is:

“I will enjoy a weekly date night with my wife every Saturday”

When writing down your goals make sure to check that it meets all of the above criteria. I learned of this method of goal setting from my great friend and mentor, Rob Berkley of www.visionday.com.

I highly recommend you click over to his website to learn more about his work. I personally have been working with him for years now and his “Vision Day” process has been truly life changing for me.

Be sure to break your goals up into the major areas of your life (or core values). For example, I have four major areas of my life that I like to focus on:

Family
Health
Business
Liberty

I make sure that I’m setting goals in each area and that I’m devoting the appropriate amount of time, money and energy to each. Also, be careful not to over-commit… you can only tackle so many major goals / projects at a time.

One trap I see many people, including myself, fall into is spending way too much energy in one area… often not one of the ones most important to you.

Another very important thing to mention, which is such a complex topic that it really can’t be covered in detail here, is the role your beliefs play in whether or not you achieve a goal.

For example, many people will say one of their goals is to make more money yet their belief or view is that money is bad and something that only the “greedy rich” have and they don’t.

Never underestimate the power that beliefs have and don’t lie to yourself… instead, ask yourself while you’re setting goals, how do I really feel about this? Do I have any beliefs that contradict this goal?

I highly recommend you read Steve Chandler’s book, “The Story of You” and listen to his audios. In fact, be sure to listen to the audio interview I did with him.

But again, it’s not enough to just set goals, so on to the next step…

Step #2: Create an action plan

Another mistake people make that keeps them from achieving their goals is they either don’t create action plans or they create ones that are “broken.”

After you’ve identified your goal and written it out, you need to map out all of the steps that are required to get there. Don’t skimp on this… write down every little detail… you can always come back to the list later and re-prioritize them.

Also, when creating your “actions” list, don’t forget to think about the…

What
Who
When
Why
How

These questions will help you get more clarity on what actions are required, who needs to do them, by when, etc. I do a “Vision Day” at least once each year and it’s my blueprint or master plan for the year… and each year, my success rate gets better and better.

Whether you get help from a coach or go it alone, creating your action plan is a must.

Step #3: Get Started

Once you have your plan all mapped out, the rest is easy… it’s just like following a recipe or driving directions. But it all begins with the first step.

Let me share with you one of my favorite quotes:

“The best way to solve a problem or achieve a goal is to overwhelm it… take massive, focused action”

The above quote is paraphrased and taken from my mentor Steve Chandler. Be sure to check out his website www.clubfearless.net and his excellent books and audios.

Let me close out this step with another favorite quote:

“Nothing happens until something moves” Robert Ringer, Author of the excellent book” “Action”

So get up and get going… don’t wait… the time is right now!

Step #4: Measure Progress and Adjust

After you’ve gotten started you’ll want to keep track of your progress. There are many ways you can do this… paper lists, spreadsheets, mind maps and even goal tracking software like www.lifetick.com which I recently started using myself.

Another popular and very accurate axiom is “What gets measured gets improved.”

If you really want to lose weight or get rid of your pain, you need to keep track of your progress. Part of your progress is all the little successes of completing the actions on your action plan.

One thing you will need to do is adjust along the way. Your plan will be a “living thing” and it will need to change over time based on changes in your life, in the world and the progress you make.

And don’t forget to celebrate every little success. I see so many people beat themselves up who don’t feel successful simply because they aren’t acknowledging each of the little successes they are achieving.

Remember, you can’t get to the final goal without all the steps along the way.

Success at any anything, whether in health, fitness, personal relationships, business, or whatever else rarely comes without some outside help. Here are some great resources that have helped me:

Books
The Story of You – Steve Chandler
Getting Things Done – David Allen
Action! – Robert Ringer
Transformation
– Bill Phillips

Coaches / Knowledge
www.visionday.com (help creating a plan for your life)
www.robertringer.com (wisdom via email, articles, books, audios and more)

www.clubfearless.net (excellent daily email, teleseminars and more)
www.mikelitman.com/greatness/ (excellent free audio)

Software / Planners
www.actionmethod.com (task / project management software)
www.lifetick.com (goal setting / tracking software)
www.plannerpads.com (great paper organizer system)

Well, there you have it. I truly hope you’ve found this helpful.

As I said at the start, I also want to hear from you… after you’ve thought about it and started writing your goals down, let me know what you plan to achieve in 2012 by commenting below.

Let me know how we here at the Healthy Back Institute can help you… And if you have any resources that you have found helpful please share those as well.

I look forward to hearing of the wonderful things you achieve in this next year. I know I’ll personally remain busy improving lives, including my own.