OK, a new year is just a few days away. Are you ready to take it on with gusto and optimism or are you going to let the disappointments, frustrations and challenges of last year plague you as you move into the months ahead? There are seven things I would ask you to consider if you want to ensure that 2013 is one of your best ever.
Manage your expectations– The number one contributor to disappointment, frustration, stress and anxiety in life – are unmanaged expectations. Life happens. People make promises they don’t keep. We can’t control everything. If you want to experience frustration and disappointment next year continue to let circumstances and people that that you can’t control –get to you. One way to reduce the impact of this issue is to simply accept the fact that life happens and not always the way you want it to, expect it to or even demand it to. I’m not suggesting that you not have expectations, but that you better manage your reactions to the outcomes of them.
Stay in the present– Yesterday, last month and ten minutes ago is gone. You can’t change any of it no matter how hard you try or want to – no matter what you did, said or thought. You would be amazed at how much time the average person spends mentally in the past or future. Actually statistics say that it’s over 90% of our waking time. Worried about the future, regretful of the past, concern for what might happen or just your dislike of uncertainty. The only thing that is certain about life is its continued uncertainty. You can’t control the future and you can’t change anything in the past – all you can do is spend time in the present doing your best to create a better future therefore a better past.
Improve your skills– If you are not getting better you are falling behind. The world is changing faster than at any time in recorded history and this requires that your keep your skills relevant and current. Regardless of your roles or responsibilities – sales, management, leadership, customer service, etc. there are numerous factors in play that are having a tremendous impact on how the world will look differently in the coming months and years. One sure way to ensure that you look back on 2013 with disappointment is to do nothing to improve who you are, what you do or how you do it. Why not invest a portion of your resources in – getting better and wiser in some way.
Control your mindsets– Fear is the number one contributor to illness, failure, discouragement and so many other negative outcomes in life. Your mindsets (attitudes/philosophy) are the single most influential factor in determining the quality of your life. Regardless of whether you are an optimist and have a positive life outlook, a pessimist with a negative one or somewhere in the middle – how you think every minute controls your actions, decisions, behaviors and yes your results or outcomes and circumstances. Stop blaming and spend this year working on improving how you think moment by moment.
Are your goals reality or fantasy based– Goals are about the direction you are travelling in life and not the end result. Ever had a goal that you didn’t reach? Ever achieved a result that was never a goal? Welcome to reality 101. The primary purpose of goals is not to achieve them but to use them as a roadmap or template towards an objective. Things happen that you can’t anticipate. Life changes in a heartbeat. Yesterday’s goal can get in the way of what is really important in your life today if you stick with it just because you set it when you were at a different time or place in your life. In other words just because you have set a goal for 2013 doesn’t mean that it can’t change. Be careful of letting your goals rule your life if they are not taking you in the direction you want to travel.
Lessons learned– If you are a good student in life – you learn the lessons it gives you and you move on. If you are not – it is guaranteed that you will once again have to deal with the same challenges or lessons again. Life is a relentless teacher and it has an agenda that there are certain things you need to learn in life before it gives you a passing grade allowing you to move on to the next lesson. Get it – the lessons just keep coming and you have a choice – stay stuck in the same lessons over and over again wasting valuable time and life or learn them the first time so you can one day graduate.
Inspect, evaluate & reinvent– You’ve heard it – expecting different results from repeated behavior is a form of insanity. Got a plan B for 2013? Don’t think you need one? Some things in life just work – can’t tell you why – they just do. Other things in life no matter how hard we try or want them to – just don’t work to our complete satisfaction. Been there? There now? So what’s the answer?Inspect– ask lot’s of self-introspection questions like; why, why not, how, when, what if etc.Evaluate– consider other options, alternatives, actions and potential consequences. Be honest asking yourself what’s not working and why isn’t it?Reinvent– Stop thinking outside the box – throw the box away.
That’s it. If you will seriously consider each of these areas and their impact on your life, career or business and make the necessary positive adjustments or changes I will guarantee that this year will be one of your best ever.
Make it a great week, In His Service, Tim