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Goal Setting
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Why New Year's Resolutions Waste Your Time &
What to Do to Accomplish More Goals
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By
Karim Ismail
If you're
looking to accomplish more goals this coming year then forget about
 New
Year's resolutions. The people that profit the most from New Year's
resolutions are...
* Owners of fitness centers
* Authors of weight loss books
* People who sell programs about how to make money online
* Other sellers of things we use to try to fulfill our dreams and fantasies
The people that make the resolutions don't tend to benefit as much from
their resolutions. Case in point: When is the last time you heard someone
say something like, "I started my successful business as a result of a New
Year's resolution?"
I've never heard anyone say that and I suspect you haven't either. That's
because resolutions are mostly based on feelings. It's the beginning of a
new year and we want it to be a new beginning for ourselves as well.
 This desire for change is well and good, of course. The momentum that comes
from change helps propel us forward. But instead of expecting a resolution
to give you this momentum (it won't) I recommend trying this exercise
instead.
What You Should Be Doing Instead of Relying on Your New Year's Resolutions
1. After the first of the year, schedule an appointment with yourself. Grab
a notebook or a laptop and go to a quiet place-a coffee shop, a room in your
house, or even a night alone in a hotel-and write a letter to yourself as if
you were writing from the future, one year from now.
In my book Keep Any Promise I write about the importance of setting
audacious goals.In this letter, describe what you are doing a year from now
and make sure what you're describing -career, house, vacations or whatever
your writing about is audacious as possible. But, don't make it totally
outside the realm of possibility.
2. Remember, you are writing the letter to yourself from the future. Address
the letter to yourself and sign it with your name. Here's an example of
something I might write:
 "Dear Karim,
No doubt that it is a freezing cold Canadian winter day as you're reading
this. Rest assured that a year from this date you will be spending a
vacation in the Fiji Islands. The weather here is perfect.
The Keep Any Promise Live Workshops were more successful this past year than
I could have possibly imagined. Enrollment was more than triple what it was
last year, making the Fiji trip possible..."
Write in this way for as many paragraphs and pages as you wish. Don't worry
about grammar and writing style because no one else has to see this letter.
The whole purpose is to get you thinking beyond mere resolutions and
thinking much bigger and more long term than you normally would.
3. Don't restrict yourself to things like career and vacation. Feel free to
talk about things like home decor and other small goals you might have.
Those are important too. For example, maybe there's an expensive appliance
you've wanted for some time but couldn't afford. Things like this have a
place in the letter too.
4. After writing the letter, read it very carefully and meditate upon it. In
your mind's eye visualize the things in your letter coming to pass.
 Then put
the letter away until the next year. Resist the temptation to pull it out
and read it during the year. Wait and reread it a year from now and before
writing your next letter. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how
close you've come to achieving the audacious goals of the previous
year-maybe you will have even surpassed some of them!
Accomplishing Goals Can Become Automatic
If you follow my advice, you will accomplish more goals than if you just set
mere resolutions that fade away before Valentine's Day. You'll find yourself
automatically making decisions throughout the year that will make your
audacious goals possible. This will happen without you even realizing it.
For example, if I had set the audacious goal of a trip to Fiji, throughout
the year I will automatically notice ads for Fiji. I would find myself
making decisions in my business to increase my income so that I can pay for
the trip. It has a snowball effect!
The story format really helps pull everything together and it will help you
visualize your audacious goals and implant them in your subconscious. Now,
you will be able to achieve more in the next 12 months than you have in the
previous 12 years. |
