Welcome to a Viewpoints new year!  This annual “new beginning” gives us all a chance to reflect on past accomplishments and look forward to new challenges and opportunities.  We hope 2006 will be a good year for you.  We have a lot of good topics coming in the issues ahead.  Enjoy! and please invite others to join the Viewpoints subscription list – it’s an opt-in list on our web site:  www.infiniteperspectives.com

Happy New Year!

Warmest Regards,

Charles (Charlie) Boyer
Infinite Perspectives, LLC
www.infiniteperspectives.com

PLAN AHEAD!  If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.  Do you set goals and then forget about them?  How about those New Year’s Resolutions – have you continued to work on them, or did they disappear with the tinsel and leftover turkey?  C’mon – drag out those well-intentioned resolutions and get busy on them!

Actually, making and keeping New Year’s Resolutions isn’t the dismal failure I had imagined for many people.  I learned from an Internet source that:

• 67% of people make 3 or more resolutions
• 63% of people are keeping their resolutions after 2 months

That’s good!  I was surprised to learn that more resolutions were being kept than forgotten.  Maybe there’s hope for me after all.

According to FirstGov.gov, the most frequently reported resolutions are:

• lose weight
• pay off debt
• save money
• get a better job
• get fit
• eat right
• get a better education
• drink less alcohol
• quit smoking
• reduce stress overall
• reduce stress at work
• take a trip
• volunteer to help others

This web site has a link for each of the above items to follow-up articles, helpful hints, and resources.  Here’s the URL:  http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml

That’s quite a long list, isn’t it?  Which ones are yours?  Or have you listed some others?  My suggestion:  whittle down your list to the top 3 to 5 to make it appear more do-able and less daunting.  Otherwise, your goals become nothing more than a long list of wishful thinking.

An article by John Dilemme cautions that goals may be damaging.  He wrote that we often berate ourselves when we don’t achieve the goals we set for ourselves.  Dilemme says that you need a strong “Why” in place to set and achieve your goals.  If there is a strong enough reason, we tend to accomplish the goal.  If you need help finding your “Why,” he poses 3 questions:

1. If you had no financial worries and did not need to go to work Monday morning, then what would you do?
2. If you had so much money that you had to give it away, who would you give it to and why?
3. Do you enjoy life?  If so, why?  If not, why not?

Powerful questions!  Take a few minutes and consider how YOU would answer them.

SMART Goals. The idea of translating vague, general, lofty resolutions into clear and attainable goals has become near standard practice in many businesses.  Educational units, after years of fluff and puffery, are finally joining the parade.  Now, it’s time to get clearer on our personal resolutions and turn them into clear and attainable goals.  The SMART acronym refers to goals that are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Tangible

There are many variations on the descriptive words that make up the SMART letters, but generally, here are descriptions of each point:

• Specific – A specific goal is easier to reach than a general one.  State clearly what you want to accomplish.  “Lose some weight” is too vague.  “Lose 10 pounds” is more specific.
• Measurable – How will you measure your progress toward reaching your goal?  How will you know whether you are making progress?  “I want to be a good writer” isn’t really measurable.  “I want to write 2 pages of an article per day” is better.
• Attainable – Can you do it?  You should have to work at it, but your goal must really be possible.  If your goal is to climb Mt. Everest, do you have what it takes to actually do it?
• Realistic – You must be willing AND able to work toward your goal.  A pie-in-the-sky goal is really not a goal at all.  Make it real.
• Tangible – Can you experience your goal with one of your senses?  Give yourself a definite time frame to accomplish a goal.  Otherwise, it’s not a goal at all.

SMARTER Goals:  Two additional categories were added by some resources:

• Evaluate – how well are you accomplishing your goal?
• Re-do – After evaluation, re-work the goal if needed, or decide what else you must do to get the job done.

Susan Heathfield wrote that that SMART goals, as traditionally defined, are becoming as extinct as dinosaurs.  She suggested a broader range of words for the SMART acronym (some of her words are slightly different from the above model):

• Specific – but add Stretching, Systematic, Synergistic, Significant, Shifting
• Measurable – plus Meaningful, Memorable, Motivating, Magical
• Achievable – plus Action plans, Accountability, Acumen, Agreed-upon
• Relevant – but also Realistic, Reasonable, Resonating, Results-oriented, Rewarding, Responsible, Reliable, Rooted in facts, Remarkable
• Time-based – and Timely, Tangible, Thoughtful

Quite a tall order – but good points to think about as we develop a goal and seek to accomplish it.

HOW TO GET FROM HERE TO THERE:  Goal setting – REAL goal setting – is not easy,  It takes time, dedication, and discipline.  But, just like eating an elephant, it’s do-able, if you take it a step at a time.

First – decide where it is you want to go, what you want to accomplish.  Is it a SMART goal?  If not, work on it!

Second –  Write it down! – and on a regular basis, look again at what you wrote.  Things begin to happen when you have committed a goal to paper and make yourself take a look at it from time to time.  I used to resist this – until I found that it really does work!

Third – Under each goal, list 5 action steps you CAN take to make that goal happen.  Then, from the 5, pick 2 or 3 action steps that you WILL take.  There’s a big difference there.

Fourth – Take action.  Get off your do-nothing stool and get started.  Whatever it takes – make it a point to get started, and you’ll have a much better chance of finishing.  Keep going & don’t quit.

Fifth – Celebrate!  Build small rewards into your work, and you’ll be amazed at how much better you’ll feel about continuing until your goal is reached.  Be sure to celebrate big time when you’ve truly accomplished what you set out to do – you deserve it!

A CHALLENGE TO YOU:  Take another look at your New Year’s Resolutions.  Pick just ONE and develop it as a SMART (or SMARTER) goal.  At the end of the year, take a good look at what you’ve done.  You may amaze yourself at what you’ve been able to accomplish.

Where are YOU going in 2006?

QUIPS & QUOTES:

If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there.  (Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland

In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.  (Robert Heinlein)

Remember, people will judge you by your actions.  You may have a heart of gold – but so does a hard-boiled egg.  (Anonymous)

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret.  Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.  (Oprah Winfrey)

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.  (Abraham Lincoln)

 Resources:

Top Achievement Articles, www.topachievement.com/smart.html

Personal Goal Setting, www.topachievement.com/personalgoalsetting.html

Christenbury, Paul, “Steps for Successful Goal Setting and Achievement.”

Dilemme, John, “Goals Are Damaging”

Beyond Traditional Smart Goals, http://humanresources.about.com

New Years Resolutions, http://www.firstgov.gov/citizen/topics/new_years_resolutions.shtml

NEXT ISSUE:  The Seven Environments of You.  An overview of the ways you interact with, and are influenced by, the environments that surround you – Relationships, Physical, Memetic, Nature, Network, Self, Intangible.  What can you do to change your environments – or are you stuck in them?  (Coming in February)

Infinite Perspectives Coach-Based Consulting can help YOU

• Turn your conflicting intentions into actions
• Build your team into a well-tuned ensemble
• Master the Seven Essentials for Leadership Success

Call (303) 972-2581 to schedule your complimentary consultation.