Great News at IMPAQ:
• • • Surprise Yourself and Actually Accomplish What Matters to You This Year By Mark Samuel and Sophie Chiche How many times have you started the year with the same list of resolutions and ended the year discouraged that you did not achieve them? Or forgotten that you even wanted to? You might have done it often enough and it has not worked often enough that you do not even write the list anymore. Are you willing to do something different this year? If so, put a Personal Accountability System in place. If you were less than 100 percent successful, you still would have made a great dent in your list. Here are five steps for creating your best year ever. Step 1: Set a Clear Intention Let's start by describing a picture of success. If you were living the life that you set out to create in your list of New Year's resolutions, what would it look, feel, and sound like if you were in it? Really in it? Take some time to think about what that would be. What is the mindset; what are the attitudes and behaviors you would have differently from the ones you have today? Be as specific as you can. Identify what you would do, and how you would think and respond differently from now. Document what comes to you when you answer these questions. A journal, a file in your computer, a picture, a collage. Any way you want to, but capture it. Be creative. Be clear. Take the time to make this your personal story of success. Step 2: Develop New Habits The definition of insanity is, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." If you keep doing what you are doing, you will not end your year having made a dent in your list. To create different results, you need to develop different habits. What are some of your habits that are inconsistent, incompatible with this new, bigger goal of yours? Once you identify the habits that do not get you the results you want, they need to be replaced with new ones. Ones that will create different results. Better results. Results that you want Step 3: Develop a Recovery Plan This is a critical step for success. You don't need to be perfect to accomplish your dream. Being accountable doesn't mean being perfect. If you are a human being, you will make mistakes. Especially if you are trying something new, changing old habits. You will mess up. You will get stressed and overwhelmed. You will trip on the carpet one way or another, and if you have this "perfect" image in your head, you might get frustrated or angry at yourself. You might even get discouraged and quit because you stumbled. Stumbling is to be expected. If accomplishing what you want were that easy, you would have crossed that item off that perpetual resolution list long ago. It doesn't mean you are failing. It means you are progressing. The question is how fast you can get back on your horse when you fall from it. Step 4: Forgiveness Forgiveness is the master key to your freedom and to achieving what matters to you. If you are unable to let go of what you (or others) did wrong in the process, you are imprisoned and cannot achieve what you want to achieve. It will paralyze you. It might not feel like that at first, but it will catch up with you. One day, you will feel stuck and unable to move, but you won't be sure why. Remember, beaches are made of really tiny grains of sand. As little as they are, a lot of them makes for a large volume. Forgiveness is the shovel that allows you to build your dreams and not waste your time with old resentment and bitterness. People do what they do. Don't let that stop you from achieving what matters to you. Step 5: Celebrate Along the Way Every moment of every day. Too often, people wait until they have achieved their final goal before they celebrate. Celebration builds the sense of trust in yourself that you are going to make it. Success breeds success and it is the small ones that lead to ultimate ones--even if it's just a quiet acknowledgment, a symbolic pat on the back, or a list before you fall asleep of all the progress you made that day. Or, maybe you want to blow out a candle every time you hit a mark (i.e., losing five pounds, completing a chapter, gaining freedom from debt on one credit card). Celebrating gives you the fuel you need to carry yourself so you can end your year and joyfully tear up your list, knowing you made it. You can then experience the satisfaction of never, ever writing the same item on your New Year's resolution list. Happy New Year.
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