I facilitated a workshop last week that focused on the Five Elements of Adventure and how to integrate them into our daily lives – into our primary relationships, our family, our work, and our roles in community. A couple of participants approached me at the end of the day and asked about setting New Year’s resolutions. Ah, yes, the New Year’s resolution to eat healthy, get in shape, be a better husband, a more attentive parent, write your book, start your new business, clean the garage, file the paperwork, etc, etc.
I responded that I think resolutions are great as long as they take time to reflect on the past year, see what worked for them, acknowledge what didn’t. With that information, develop behaviorally specific goals that they can follow-up on quarterly and hold themselves accountable for. In addition I highly recommended that they tell their friends and family what the goals and resolutions are and ask for their help and support to reach them.
I remember last year Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity wrote an excellent piece that outlines his end of year reflection and new year plan of action. Chris hits the nail on the head here and shares his excel spreadsheet to help others in the same process. I firmly agree with the key points Chris outlines to set, reach, and surpass your goals and activate your passions and dreams:
- Make a plan of action based on what is most important to you, be specific. Not a simple resolution.
- Make your goal measurable and behaviorally specific. I mean really specific, the more specific the better.
- Be flexible, this is a plan you are developing for a more enjoyable and rewarding life.
Link to Chris’s blog post from last year and to download his excel sheet to get you going. Take some time out for personal reflection, connect with friends, family, and colleagues. Develop a plan for 2010 by embracing the successes from 2009 and learning from the lessons of your struggles and challenges.
See you out there!
