Once again I am looking at the last few days of my calendar. 2016 was fleeting. I remember so vividly getting out my brand new, beautiful planner and writing my goals and aspirations for the year. There is such promise of a new, empty calendar….the blank squares on the calendar just anticipating all of the success and accomplished tasks and goals.
Most women that I know share the same feelings of surprise and perplexity when we stare at those last few days in our December schedule and ask ourselves, “What just happened?”.
So this year, I decided to take stock of what I did, in fact, accomplish! This was a great exercise that made me reflect (and be thankful) on the power of writing down goals, achievements, and falling forward. 2016 was an amazing year for me! So many blessings-the greatest being that I got married to my best friend! However, the truth is that I didn’t hit each goal. The reality of why I didn’t was simply because I didn’t plan for success. I didn’t have deadlines or a plan to achieve the success I desired. I simply wrote a desire that I had for the year and nothing more.
Acknowledging that mistake, allows me to learn and grow in 2017.
There is a famous quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “A goal without a plan is just a wish”.
I don’t like the term “resolution” when thinking of the fresh start of the new year and creating a goal, especially when there is no plan behind the resolution. Creating a resolution to lose weight is vague. How will you accomplish that? What steps need to happen each day, each week, every month, for an entire year to achieve that? If you lost one pound is that defined as success for you? Get specific.
The actual exercise of writing down a goal and creating a plan to accomplish it is empowering. YOU create the path for your own success.
The items that I wrote down as goals for myself and actually created a plan to accomplish my desires were the items I found success with! For example, creating my very own branded wellness program was a dream that I set into motion for 2016 when I created a plan. How was I going to get this achieved? What steps needed to be taken?
Listing items such as: hire a business coach, build my social media following, create my ideal program that will deliver results, design a website, create a sales funnel, build content-all with deadlines, was imperative. Because of this planning, I am super happy to say that I am accomplishing that goal! As I type this, my website is almost set to launch. This has been a labor of love and there is no way I could have accomplished without setting specific goals and deadlines to achieve.
Without admitting that I couldn’t accomplish it all on my own, knowing that I needed expert help to achieve my vision, I am certain that I would not be able to share my success in this dream realized.
What goals did you achieve in 2016?
Where did you fall short?
What are you grateful for?
How will you create a new story in 2017?
What are two things (make it realistic!) that you want to change or create this new year?
What do you need help with? Getting healthy? Creating your dream job? Financial freedom?
What steps do you need to take to achieve your goals?
I challenge you to make 2017 an EPIC year because YOU created a plan to do so!