What are you doing to better yourself?
A new year usually brings new resolutions. People trying to loose weight, stop smoking, get out of debt, you name it. Every year the world vows to better themselves on January 1st and then, unless the people around me are unique, by February it turns to comments of “Next year is when I’m gonna start.” Why does it have to wait a whole year? Why not start your year February 5th, or March 10th? People count their ages any one of the 365 days, or likewise with anniversaries. There shouldn’t be only one day a year that we allow ourselves to begin resolutions.
Most resolutions are made to improve some part of your life. In starting this blog I made several resolutions dealing with health, financial, and personal improvement. My first step to reaching the goals set by these resolutions was to become accountable. I planned on doing this by publishing this blog and building a “fan” base of people who would support me. I have begun to recieve comments and emails from strangers encouraging me along the way as well as sharing their stories of success and failure.
I want to point out here three little things you can do to make accomplishing your goals rise higher on your list of priorities.
Making Time
Probably most important is making time to better yourself. You need to consciously think about setting aside time each day to become better at what you do. Be it 20 minutes or 1 hour each day that spend focusing on a goal it will bring you that much closer to realizing it. At the beginning of each week I suggest sitting down and determining a block of time each day that you could put towards your goals. This way when you come to scheduling other activities such as going shopping or going out with friends it will be as though you already scheduled your goals ahead of time. Doing this can be a tricky little way to realign your priorities.
Another thing you may need to consider is re-evaluating what your goals are. If you make time for something you don’t enjoy you may not be doing it much longer after you start. Right now, as you can see with this blog, I am working on goals that I enjoy which makes the time I spend on them feel like time well spent, rather than time wasted. Of course I have frustrating times, such as when I can’t break a 100 in golf or running begins to hurt my shins, or when I can’t get Wordpress to cooperate. These are undoubtedly going to happen no matter what you are striving towards. Having goals you enjoy will make it easier to get beyond those difficult moments and accomplish what you set out to do.
Read and Listen
The next part of my improvement has come from seeking out new ways to better myself within the specific areas. I look all over for new methods and one of the best ways I have found is reading books. Do you read enough about what you are trying to get done? Some people jump into a stop smoking program knowing that they should stop smoking because it’s bad for them. This alone usually isn’t enough to keep at it. What those people need, and what you need to do is educate yourself on what you are doing. If it’s a sports goal find inspiration through reading and watching others play, then really focus on how you are going to achieve that perfect backhand. If it’s financial pick up some books on investing for retirement, subscribe to the Wallstreet Journal, begin watching Mad Money with Jim Cramer. Educating yourself can be the best thing to achieving your goal.
Another method which I wrote about earlier filling your down time with audio books. Audio books can easily be downloaded to your MP3 player. Then while driving your car, walking to the store, or waiting in line to get tickets to a great show, you can be educating yourself. They have tons of business and self help books to get you started. Some that I’ve already listened to are Jack Welsch’s Winning and Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside and Purple Cow. They also have science books, learning language books, and biographies that sometimes can give you the most inspiration to get things done.
Surround Yourself
I have written about it before but can’t seem to mention it enough. Success breeds success and if you surround yourself with similar minded people with similar goals you are much more likely to keep up with what you are doing. I read and comment and many blogs that are similar to what I am trying to accomplish. In turn these people have contacted me with words of encouragement, advice, and even to correct me when I have misspoken. All of which is helpful along the path I have before me.
Sooner or later you’ll make one tiny breakthrough and that will be enough to lead to the next, then the next, then the next, and before you know it your goal will be in sight. Just keep trying to better yourself in the areas related to your goal and you will have more luck accomplishing everything you want to accomplish.
Pingback from Sticking to Your Goals ยป Erik Vossman’s Goals Weblog
Time: June 15, 2006, 10:43 pm
[...] Another show stopper, or goal stopper, is having the people around you tell you that your silly for trying to reach your goals, big or small. Most of the time these people are just trying to cover their own shortcomings or lack of drive and would rather you stay at their level than succeed and move ahead. If you have people like that around you either tell them to shut up and start supporting you or find others to surround yourself with positive vibes. Having people that will support your goal chase will help you keep up on track. [...]