By Sean Gagnon, Special AFS Contributor
It is no secret that many people start out each new year with the age-old New Year’s Resolutions. It is also no secret that by the end of January most of these resolutions have gone by the wayside. People have reverted back to their old ways and have lost the motivation for whatever new thing they were going to accomplish this year. Though we are all capable of change, the fact remains that change is hard and takes a tremendous amount of discipline.
Personally, I take a different approach at the start of each year. I don’t start by sitting down to make a list of business and personal goals that I want to accomplish. I start by creating what I call my annual success PLAN. This is simply a set of 3-5 principles that I will live by this year that will help me to accomplish my goals - whatever they may be. 2019 was no exception. At the start of the year, I implemented a simple 3 step process and am now slotting my business and personal goals into it. The steps are, THINK, PLAN, EXECUTE.
Think
It sounds simple. The fact is that it is, and it isn’t. Thinking is actually hard work which is why people don’t make the investment of time and energy that it requires. Too often we jump to what we want to accomplish but we haven’t really put the time in to figure out WHY. As with most things, a strong why will be the thing that pushes us through the tough times when it doesn’t seem like we are making progress towards our goals. It is also important to put thought into the specifics of what we want to accomplish and the time frame by which we want to accomplish it. For example, a common resolution at the start of every year is to lose weight or to get in shape.
Our minds can’t get behind goals like this because they are vague and not linked to a specific outcome. We’ve all heard that goals must be specific and measurable but we must also tie them to something bigger. If you are working with clients this year that have these goals encourage them to THINK deeply about them and get to the root of why they want to accomplish them. Is it to have more energy so they can be active in their children’s lives?
Perhaps they have a vacation coming up and they want to feel confident as they walk down the beach. Whatever it is, creating the link between the goal and the why is powerful and will keep them motivated when the inevitable road-blocks appear. To summarize, when setting goals in the new year, or at any time, put in the time to really THINK about the specific outcomes, potential obstacles and the true reason behind WHY the goal is important. The investment on the front end will pay off big down the road.
Plan
Once we have put the proper thinking in place around our goals it is time to make a PLAN. This is the next reason most people fail. They simply don’t have a solid plan. It sounds good to say you will accomplish this or that but specifically HOW are you going to do it? What are the 3 -5 things you must do every day in order to reach the goal? What is preventing you from accomplishing the goal right now? Time, money, effort, will power?
If you can identify the obstacles to success you can put a plan in place to overcome them. It is also important to plan the time frame that you will accomplish the goal by. For example one of the members on my team had a goal to write a book last year. Anyone that has set out to accomplish such a task, or even just write a blog, will tell you that it’s daunting to open up your computer and see a blank screen staring back at you!
Once he got clear on the what and the why he laid out a plan for the how. Five days per week he was going to write 500 words. That is the equivalent of 1 page per day which turned into a book with over 250 pages by the end of the year. Had he not been so specific in his plan, his chances of success would have been greatly diminished. Significant accomplishments do not happen by accident. They require a real plan but the plan is what makes them manageable.
As with most things, a strong why will be the thing that pushes us through the tough times when it doesn’t seem like we are making progress towards our goals.
Execute
The final step in the process is to actually go out and do the work! Undoubtedly this is where the majority of people will fail. Accomplishing our goals is hard work. It’s supposed to be. That is largely where the satisfaction comes from. If you’ve ever set out to accomplish a goal and reached the finish line I’m sure you can remember the feeling of looking back and remembering all that it took to get there. The journey in many aspects is as rewarding as the destination.
Needless to say, you can put in the time to think through your goals. You can put together the best plan in the world but if you don’t go out and put in the work, it simply doesn’t matter. It simply won’t happen. Too many people will make the excuse that I don’t know how to do this or that. Or I tried before and it didn’t work out. Recognize that these are simply excuses to avoid the work. Get to work! Other people will start out doing the work and then start to cut corners, start looking for the quick fix. People who do this ultimately fail. Get to work! At the end of the day, one of two things will happen. You will accomplish your goal or you won’t. What I can guarantee you is that if you really put in the hard work, you will be further down the road than if you just sit around talking about it. GET TO WORK!
There you have it. A simple 3 step approach to accomplishing your goals this year. One word of caution. Do the steps in the order they are written. Think. Plan. Execute. Often times people want to jump right to execute before they have a plan. Other times they just want to sit around thinking and never take action. Follow the system, it works. Cheers to your success in 2019 and beyond!
Sean Gagnon is the founder and president of The Abs Company. He received his master’s degree in clinical physiology from the University of Florida. For over 10 years his company has been focused on core-based functional training products for the commercial and consumer fitness markets. The Abs Company products can be found in over 10,000 facilities and millions of homes in over 40 countries worldwide. The company mission is "We Change Lives from the Core”. Sean and his team are proud to do just that every day!
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