Welcome to New Year 2015!!
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- How to live in harmony with principles that support our goals
- How to focus on things that matter most
- How to use your imagination to design a new life and a new you
- How to make decisions that yield predictable results
- And much more
TRANSCRIPT
Hello and welcome to 2015. How exciting that we are at the beginning of a New Year because I know for many people it’s like a window of opportunity has opened up to allow you to become a whole new person.
At least that’s what you want to happen but…you but you wake up go grab your cup of coffee (as usual), sit down to a less than perfect breakfast (as usual), and the day doesn’t quite turn out as perfectly as you imagined it! As usual!
That’s been happening now for the past…3 months, 2 years, ____ (you fill in the blank)!
Well if you didn’t get started on January 1st, don’t let it worry you, there’s still plenty of time left of this year to work on becoming the new you. And I’ve got every faith that despite whether you’ve managed to do it before, this year is going to be different.
Why, because this year you are going to make the commitment. That’s what we are going to cover in today’s podcast, the concept of commitment and most importantly being committed to ourselves. And I thought I’d share a bit about my personal process at this time of the year as well.
I guess for me my personal planning for the New Year started back at the beginning of December. When December comes around each year I often find myself reflecting on the year that’s past and where we’re heading. This is both a personal reflection and one that involves my partner as well because each year we both have personal goals and a combined vision as well. So we start to talk about that and the things we might like to do.
We don’t focus on it all month of course but just when it comes up here and there. But we do start to set a plan and map out things a bit so we can hit the ground running in the New Year with lots of enthusiasm.
That doesn’t mean you can’t start this process at any time of year because you absolutely can and if you’re listening to this podcast later down the track you can still sit down and map out a plan anytime.
Because our lives contain various areas we have to take those things into account. So both me and my partner have our own businesses so we talk about business goals and I always map out a bit of a plan in that arena. For me my business is also a personal passion, that’s why I love to be here talking to you every week, so it’s always an important component of my life plan as well.
When trying to do a business plan I also factor in finances. Do we have debt to pay, how will we do that, or perhaps what savings goals you might have. For us we do have debt to pay so that gets mapped out into a bit of a plan.
If you don’t have a business you might consider your career and your work instead.
Then there’s personal health and fitness goals to think about. Thankfully I am in good health so for me this realm is more about fitness this year and includes a very different exercise training schedule. After doing my Masters I think I spent far too much time sitting last year so my fitness has slipped and I will be 40 at the beginning of next year, so with both of those things in mind I decided I wanted to be a lot fitter. We’re meant to be fit and fabulous at 40 right? HaHa
So what kind of things do you want to achieve on a health and fitness level?
Then there’s relationship goals, how will my partner and I nurture our relationship, what new things might we want to do, and are there any hobbies etc we might like to get involved in. So we finally set about starting our vegetable garden. Both my partner and I love being outdoors and we’ve lived on our property now for 4 years and have been talking about our big veggie garden. The reason why it hasn’t happened yet has largely been due to time commitments for both of us but this year we have made it part of our priority because it’s something we both enjoy doing together. And the additional benefit to that is we get to reap the benefits by being able to eat our own food.
We’ve also scheduled in a holiday together sometime this year. Just the two of us will get away for a road trip adventure at some stage mid year. This will be decided at a later stage but it is definitely going to happen. And on top of that we are going to try to get out hiking and camping a bit more regularly, since this is something we love to do. So I think we’ve got the relationship and personal enjoyment arena covered in our lives this coming year, which is great.
Of course time with my kids is important too and will be included regularly but they have all moved out of home now so I don’t have to worry about them too much.
So if you’re planning goals in this area you are considering love, relationships, and family.
There might then be long and short term things you want to achieve so thinking about all this stuff helps to make it happen.
But that’s all very well, I’ve sat down and talked about this stuff, I know the types of things I want to achieve but how will all of this happen?
Commitment.
I love this saying by author Stephen Covey: The power to keep commitments to ourselves is the essence of developing the basic habits of effectiveness.
What he means by that is that to be effective in our lives we need to be able to keep commitments to ourselves.
Yet I’m sure you will agree that keeping commitments is not easy, and for some reason many of us struggle the most to keep commitments to ourselves. But it really is very important to our health and our happiness too.
So what does commitment mean?
The dictionary has a few different meanings depending on which one you consult so let’s share a few of them so we can get a deeper understanding of what commitment really means.
- a promise to do or give something
- a promise to be loyal to someone or something
- the attitude of someone who works very hard to do or support something
- an agreement or pledge to do something
- dedicating yourself to something
- the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action
So when we are planning out all those goals we can then map out the steps it’s going to take to achieve them. These daily tasks become the promise that we make to ourselves. By writing out the daily tasks we are making an agreement that this is what we will do day in and day out.
The daily task of doing that something or all those things is the part that takes commitment.
If there were a fast track to our goals we’d all take it right?
I mean, I want to lose that 20 pounds but it’s going to take me 6 months (oh I want it now), now that’s the struggle for commitment. Or I want to pay off that debt but I really want to buy that thing right now, that can be a struggle for commitment. Or I want to get fit but there seems to always be something else more important to do, and again we find the struggle for commitment.
Oh, yes, those daily commitments we have to make in order to do what needs to be done is a challenge that we all face. Things won’t come to us right now, that’s just the law of nature in most cases, so we have to make commitments to achieving things.
And although it can be a struggle, we can do it.
We can avoid those chocolates or cookies and eat hummus and carrot sticks instead. Then before long the time has passed and we’re at our goal.
We can stop spending, simplify our lives, and make sure we pay off our debt as a priority. We can make sure to prioritise our fitness by doing it first thing in the morning.
Instead of getting out of bed and doing your usual thing, just get out of bed and the first thing you do is remind yourself of the goals you are pursuing. Remind yourself of what needs to be done today to get to those goals.
Use those reminders to remind yourself of the promises and agreements you have made.
Then wake up every day and do what needs to be done. Another saying I love is: Successful people do what needs to be done even when they don’t want to do it.
Time flies, it did last year and it likely will again this year, so take your pen and paper, write down some goals, think about the actions and daily tasks that will help you get there, then wake up tomorrow and start doing something different.
Most importantly make that promise and agreement with yourself to achieve your goals and plans.
I honestly can’t believe how much my life has changed since I started becoming a goal setter and planner, instead of just letting my life slide by year to year. So many things have changed and I’m so much happier.
And I just know that you will be too.
So I hope that there is something in today’s words that inspires you to change this year.
Take the reins, get motivated, stay motivated, be committed to you.
I truly wish you an AMAZING 2015 and I look forward to sharing it with you here on the podcast and as part of the GFE community.
Now go and get that pen and paper and take some action 
Bye for now.
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