Christian Community Networking

  By Madeline Alexander, The Power Coach

10 Easy Steps to Get Your 2010 Goals Back on the Fast Track

Have your New Year's Resolutions skipped town without a trace? Over 90% of New Year?s Resolutions are broken before the end of January. So if you are still working at it, congratulations, you are in the top 10%! However, if you, like most folks, have already bailed on your good intentions for 2010, I have three words for you- DON'T GIVE UP! You may have gotten off to a rough start, or you may still be in the starting blocks, but that is OK - you have time to recover and have an extraordinary 2010. Follow these 10 easy steps to get your 2010 goals back on the fast track.

Here's the problem. Resolutions alone do not work because they are not integrated into how you actually manage your life on a daily basis. The New Year always starts with the excitement of the clean slate and the enthusiasm of the fresh start! The emotional commitment is important, but not enough to make real change. Willpower alone can only sustain you for a short period of time. Why? Because change does not come naturally. The status quo comes naturally. If you do not aggressively push against it, within a few days or weeks, the magnetic pull of the oh-so-familiar comfort zone will drag you right back into your old ways, and crush your 2010 dreams faster than the backfiring ACME anvil always crushed Wile E. Coyote's dream of catching Roadrunner.

So if you are pushing ahead or you need to reset, here are 10 easy steps for success.

1. Take a time out. If you are serious about going to another level, then set aside some concrete time to get your plan together. Change your approach this year. Set aside a full day, a Saturday afternoon, or at least an evening away from the TV. Turn it off! Give your undivided attention to what you want to accomplish this year, and the kind of person you want to become. Before you blurt out, "I don't have time," let's get real about it. If you set aside just one full day this year, that's about 0.2% of the entire year. If you really got after it, and spent 4 days all year intensely planning - 1 day per quarter - you would be investing about 1% of your year into planning for your own success. Your life is worth that to you, right? Make the time - turn off the TV, skip a movie, or pass on the mall this week. Saying you don't have time to get your life on track in an excuse and will keep you stuck in the "someday" rut.

2. Write it down! Just the simple act of writing down what you want to accomplish will increase your success rate tremendously. Less than 10% of the population have written goals, correlating to the top income-earners in the country. Are you part of the Targeted 10% or the No-Direction 90%? When you write down your goal, you are firmly committing to yourself to make it a reality. Your goal is no longer a pipe dream, and your mind - both conscious and unconscious - will get to work on making it happen. This is the most important thing. Do not skip this step!

 

3. Change your resolutions into goals. Let's be honest, resolutions are too vague. Resolutions are like a wish list. "I'd like to quit smoking this year." "I'd like to lose weight." "I'd like to make more money." They may generally define WHAT you want, but not HOW you are going to do it, or by WHEN. They are not time-phased or action-oriented. So be specific on the WHAT, the HOW, and the WHEN. (Need help? I can show you how!)

 

4. Challenge yourself. I find that people tend to set their goals entirely too low, under the guise of being "realistic". Push yourself! Be bold! Don't be afraid to give yourself room to stretch. Get unreasonable! I often tell my coaching members, "Sometimes you must be unreasonable to reach the exceptional!" If you go for a big goal, even if you don't reach it completely, you will be so much further ahead than if you shoot for a goal that is too low. Stop playing small. Go big! Go bold!

 

5. Schedule it! Once your goals are written, here is the key. You need to break them down into daily action steps that you can schedule on the calendar. What gets scheduled gets done. I can look at your calendar, evaluate what you have accomplished in the last 5 days and tell you with amazing accuracy where you will be at the end of 2010.

 

6. Remind yourself daily. Take time everyday to review your goals - keep them in front of you. Put a list in your wallet, on your nightstand, or on the fridge...anywhere you will see them at least once or twice a day. Don't have them written down yet? Back to Step # 2 for you! Let's do it!

 

7. Write a pre-game pep-talk. Be the coach in your own locker room and learn how to give yourself a pre-game pep-talk! Take control of how you think about your future. Learn to encourage yourself. See yourself accomplishing your goals and talk to yourself as if you are already succeeding. Do it before you start your day. I command my success every day before the day begins. Learn to spend at least 5 minutes every morning building yourself up.

 

8. Tell a winner. It's a great idea to share what you are striving for with someone else. It gives you the rewards of accountability and encouragement. Caution: be careful who you tell! Tell someone who will build you up and give you support. Find someone who is also going after their own goals and commit to help each other. Be careful of the Dream Killers who will sabotage your success! Tell a winner who will cheer you on!

 

9. Celebrate your successes. Learn how to tell yourself you did a great job! We respond to positive reinforcement, so learn how to reinforce every action you take in the right direction. It may seem like a small step, but great tasks are accomplished one step at a time. Don't wait until the major milestones are accomplished. Find something good you did toward your goal every single day. We live in 24 hour cycles. So synchronize your action plan to a 24 hour process of reinforcement.

 

10. Measure to maximize your progress. Your action plan should include how you are going to measure your progress on a daily basis. Whether it's losing fat, improving your fitness level, shedding your credit card debt, increasing your income, changing your career, starting your new business, or improving your relationships, you should have some tangible way to see if you are moving toward your goal. Your measures will also help you know when you need to make some adjustments to your goals or strategies. When you measure to maximize, you will know quickly if you are off track, you can adjust your plan, and seize your success!

One last note - remember to forgive your missteps. We all experience setbacks. The most important thing is to not give up! You only fail when you stop trying. Keep moving in the right direction. Don't beat yourself up. Shake it off and get right back in the game! I am committed to your success. You are more than a conqueror and encoded with excellence. Keep climbing!

Madeline Alexander, The Power Coach, is America's premier rapid results success coach and leading authority on lasting breakthrough experiences. For a FREE fast start Power Coaching Report, "The Five Big Mistakes that Will Stop You From Fulfilling Your Vision, and How to Quit Making Them Today!" visit www.madelinealexander.com.

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