The New Year is here and if you’re like most people you probably sat down on New Year’s Eve or right after and scribbled down a list of New Year’s Resolutions. If you’re also like most people, you’ve probably already forgotten about them. Setting goals, or resolutions, is a great way to grow and I recommend everyone stretch their wings and set new goals when old goals have been achieved (and even when they haven’t). However, it’s important to set attainable goals so that you can actually see success.
Success builds on itself, as does failure. You’ve probably come across people who seem to have it all. Everything they touch turns to gold. You’ve probably also met people who just can’t seem to catch a break. Everything seems to go wrong for them no matter how hard they try. Of course, each is a generalization and there isn’t anyone out there who is successful who hasn’t failed. And, it’s also true that those who seem to never catch a break aren’t experiencing some sort of success. They just don’t see it that way.
The person who seems to be unstoppable doesn’t view their failures as failures. They consider that when something doesn’t work out successfully that it’s time to try to achieve the goal a different way. The goal wasn’t wrong, but the method of achieving it wasn’t working out. They switch gears and go about trying again. They continue trying until they’ve achieved success.
On the other hand, the person who never seems to get it right will often quit at the first sign of failure. Instead of seeing the difficulty as a sign to try something different they see it as a complete road block to their success and give up.
If you’ve had trouble finding success in achieving your goals or resolutions it’s time to set attainable goals. Set small goals.
If you occassionally jogged for exercise you wouldn’t sign up for and participate in a marathon without considerable training. You wouldn’t because you don’t have the stamina or experience to know what you are up against and would likely find yourself out of breath and on the ground by the third mile. If you were really interested in completing the marathon, all 26.2 miles of it, you’d start off by running each day and increasing the amount you ran each day.
It’s the same thing when setting goals.
You need to walk before your can run. Setting smaller, attainable goals sets you up to achieve the goals you have set. Achieving a goal, no matter how big or small, provides a wonderful boost to your confidence and that confidence helps you to stay the course when trying to achieve the next goal. For each win your confidence increases and success comes more easily. Success comes more easily because the hits and misses aren’t devestating anymore. The pitfalls become lessons or guideposts on your quest to achieve your goal, they no longer sack you and leave you breathless miles before the finish line is even in sight.
Don’t wait for the New Year to set new goals. Set new goals each day, each week and each month to achieve real and lasting success in any endeavor.