Your Ultimate New Year Resolution

It is that time of year again. Everyone is armed with New Year Resolutions, for those that do resolutions, and New Year Goals for the rest of us that do goals. Whatever name you chose to call yours, we all need to make progress, and that comes through positive change.

One of the mistakes most of us make is that we come up with a list of 5 – 10 items. There is nothing wrong with that in itself. The snag is, if we multitask, we diffuse focus, feel overwhelmed and end up delivering on none of the goals at the end of the day.

The Focus Factor

To achieve a goal, you need focus, the relentless variety. You go after it will all you’ve got. You think about it all the time, like a youth in love. That goal is the first thing on your mind when you wake up, is on your mind all day, your last thought as you sleep, and sure, you see it in your dreams once in a while. You are in love. You must be in love with that goal, so much in love that sometimes your heart skips a bit just thinking about it.

This means you need ONE goal. You can have five goals for 2011, but you must focus on one at a time. Don’t let go until you deliver it safe and sound before you jump on the next. Go after it with all you’ve got, body spirit and soul. Roll out all your guns, deploy your army, navy and airforce. This is your mother of all battles! If you chase two rabbits, both will escape. Diffused focus is the single biggest reason our efforts lack punch. Make up your mind not to settle for mediocre results in 2011.

In “Developing the Leader Within You”, John Maxwell relates the story of the Lion trainer: The animal trainers have whips and revolvers but invariably they always carry a stool. It is the trainer’s most important tool. The trainer holds the stool by the back and thrusts the legs toward the face of the wild animal. Those who know maintain that the animal tries to focus on all four legs at once. In the attempt to focus on all four, a type of paralysis overwhelms the animal, and it becomes tame, weak, and disabled because its attention is fragmented.

We are all like the lions when we try to do too many things all at once.

The New You

Your ultimate New Year resolution is a new you. To do differently, you need to change. Results are wonderful, but you need to improve the ability to deliver before you go looking for results. This comes through personal development. To achieve your goals, you need to become a person who is capable of achieving those goals. There is no short cut to personal development.

The desire for results makes many to fall into the trap of flying into action rather than first creating the ability to deliver. Our ability to deliver is anchored on discipline; discipline to control and focus our thoughts, which translate to action. Self-control. The undisciplined mind flits around like a butterfly, from goal to goal, idea to idea, activity to activity, never staying long enough in one place to attain the required result. Without this discipline, we naturally disparate our energy on a wild goose chase, trying to kill many birds with one stone. It works in grammar but not in real life.

Become who you want to be before you go do what you want to do. Your mind controls your mental picture and internal dialogue. If all your faculties are not aligned in the direction of your goal, you are a house divided against itself. Your effort is a waste of time, energy and resources. We need to get our act together on the inside. If the inside is not properly lined up, our effort on outside will fizzle out. This is the main reason January sees so many dreams on the move while February to April is littered with broken hopes and dreams.

The old you cannot achieve your goals and dreams. Any attempt will likely lead to frustration. You need a new you to run the race at the next level. You need to hit your growth curve, becoming smarter, more disciplined, patient, skilful, healthier etc in January than you were in December. You should never remain the same. You have to keep growing. The vehicle you need to transport yourself from where you are to where you are going is called change. You have to change. Something must give way. You cannot get to where you are going and remain the same. If you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting what you have always received. Tomorrow will remain a distant dream.

There is always a price to pay, either now or later. Everyone has to pay sometime. You can pay now and play later, or play now and pay later
either way, you have to pay.

Your ultimate New Year resolution is a new you. If you have only one goal in 2011, let it be the new you. Happy new you.