Goals of life

With just 2 days left in 2009 I have got to ask - how was it for you?

Did you achieve your 2009 goals? Are you on track to achieve your longer term goals, you know - the ones you have set for a couple of years down the track? Or did the last 12 months blur into a pattern of sameness?

We all start out with very good intentions. We say we are going to crack this goal setting thing once and for all, and 2010 is going to be the year that happens. Did you say the same things last year? Most people do.

There are a couple of reasons why that happens.

1. We try and change too much, too quickly. If your goal list reads like most people's - you could be argued that you currently hate your life. Lose weight, change jobs, have a nose job or a tummy tuck, move house.... is it any wonder you can't get inspired if you are working from a negative point.
2. Life gets in the way. We can be guilty of letting other people and other people's agendas get in the way of what we want and what we want to do. Whilst there should be space for compromise, you do need to be a little selfish if you want to get on. How can you write that novel you've always wanted to write if you aren't given space and time to do it? So you need to create both time and space to work on your own goals. People have gotten up at 4am to write before the kids wake up, or told their partner that between 8 and 10pm that is writing time and nothing gets in the way of these appointments with themselves.
3. We sabotage our own efforts. We say we won't have a glass of wine with dinner. We say we will get up and go for a walk before going to work. We say we need to lose some weight. We can talk ourselves out of doing almost anything. I should make those extra phone calls today, but I've not prepared my script and I don't know what I will say if they say no. I'd go to the gym, but it's too hot / cold, I'm a little sore, I've got a headache....

So, how do you deal with goal lists that don't inspire you enough to work on them? Simple, throw that one away and create a list of goals that do. We call these the "goals of life".

There are some goals that just are:

These are the health and fitness related goals we all have on the lists. Put it like this, we know that regular exercise and good nutrition should be an integral part of our lives, so your daily tasks would be to learn how to create healthy based foods and take a daily walk for example.
Personal development - again, these should be part of your normal activities. It is important to challenge your thinking - so make a habit of reading different things, watching different programs, meeting new people.

So what are the goals of life?

Well - these are the things that you want to do, at some point before you pass on.

Otherwise known as the "do before you die list".

When you focus on these things, you can begin to see where you might need to make some changes in other areas of your life. If you've always wanted to walk the kokoda track for example - and you are currently un-fit and overweight - you will not make it. Even "fit" people have died on the track. But you are determined, so you decide that if you are going to achieve this - you are going to have to get fit, and if you've read the same reports I have - extremely fit to cope with the conditions. So - one "major" goal of life - completes at least three. You walked the kokoda track, you trained long and hard and as a result you have a slim and healthy body to go with it.

Do you see the difference? Have goals that inspire you. Have goals that make you want to work on them today.

So - before you write the same bored list of New Year's Resolutions again .... turn your list into a goals of life list.