08 Mar 2008 12:28:38 | Wendy Hearn
Fast forward yourself to the end of December and as the year
closes, how are you feeling about your achievements during this
past year? Really get in touch with your feelings, live them,
breathe them and don't let them pass by. Are you feeling any
disappointment, regret or frustration for the things you haven't
done or achieved? Do you find yourself thinking, "This past year
has flown by and what have I done", "There is so much more that
I wanted to do" or "Why haven't I done the things that I'd said
I'd do".
Now bring yourself back to today. You still have time before the
end of the year to get on a track to achieving what you want.
Imagine starting the New Year knowing that you've been
consistently moving in the right direction and will continue to
take the necessary actions.
Lack of planning is one of the reasons why many people get to
the end of the year and feel they haven't achieved what they
want. Planning often isn't seen as a priority or much fun. Hold
on! If it's not fun, that's the way you've chosen it to be.
Instead you can choose to have fun with your planning and
perhaps even make it into a game. If planning isn't a priority
for you, then have you considered the messages that you're
giving to yourself. Messages such as, "I'm not that important in
my life", "I don't deserve these things" or "I'm not likely to
do what I say I will".
However, the people who do have plans often make them too rigid.
Their plan is stuck to word for word, without any room for
flexibility. A plan that you set today needs to be open to
regular reviewing and changing. A clue that your plan needs
changing is when you find it difficult to follow through with
the actions and don't feel inspired.
You've now got an opportunity to end this year with a feeling of
achievement. Seize the opportunity and make the most of it.
Start by defining for yourself your vision, dreams and desires.
Make this specific and exciting so that you feel inspired to
follow through with action. You may need to break this down into
smaller pieces. For instance, if you want to grow your business,
there may be a number of different opportunities that you choose
to explore. Now define the strategies that you'll use, how
you're going to do it. In the example of growing your business,
your strategies may include research, sales and marketing,
increasing employee numbers or finance. Now go through each
strategy and brainstorm possible action steps. Go for as many as
you can, being open to different and creative action steps,
rather than sticking with what you would normally do. Sometimes
the most outrageous actions steps turn out to be the best and
most productive.
Then at least once a day visualize your dream; the achievement
that you want to make and see what you feel is the next thing to
do. Visualizing keeps your plan alive and you inspired, and
allows you to see the right actions to take. Taking committed
action every day moves you towards your desires. At the same
time give yourself the opportunity to step back and review what
you want and what it will take to get it. Time spent regularly
stepping back and re-evaluating your plans can save you a lot of
time as you see what no longer needs doing, doesn't serve you or
needs to be done differently.
What I want for you is to be achieving and on the right track to
your dreams by the end of the year.
About Author :
Wendy Hearn Personal and Professional Coach 
