Will This Be Your Year?

Another year has gone by. For some of you, it was filled with challenges. For others, the year brought some surprises. Wherever you are today, you are here because you said by your actions that you wanted to be here. Some of you set goals. Some of you wanted to wait to see what happened before you said what you wanted. Others told yourself that setting goals was not worthwhile. The pathway to achieving goals is straightforward. You say what you want, you develop a plan, and you execute your plan. Is this simple? The answer is yes and no. We mean well when we set a goal, but then our circumstances get in the way. Life throws us a curve ball. Or, we question whether we can reach our goals. We ask ourselves if we deserve our goals? Do we have what it takes to achieve them? We blame ourselves for making promises that we seem to break. Or, we blame what is happening to us. Will this be your year? It can be if you want it to be. You can still work on your goals whether you know if you will reach them. You can still get ready for what you know in your heart can be yours. You can say what you want and begin in that direction. You can put yourself on the court whether you know if the ball will be thrown to you. The timeframe is not always in your hands, but the actions you take to be successful are. First step to goal attainment: write down your career goal and why you want to achieve it. Tell the truth about why you want to reach your goal. Is it for someone else's benefit or your own? Did you set your goal to please someone or did you set it for yourself? A goal cannot move from concept to reality unless you create it for the right reasons. Once you are in harmony with your goal, picture yourself as already having achieved it. What are you doing differently? Are you in a new job? Do you have a new title? Are you making more money? Are you in a different industry or location? Visualize your success. Can you see it? As you are doing this exercise, refrain from screening yourself. If fear or the reasons you can't reach your goal come to the surface, acknowledge them, thank your fear for its opinion, and tell it to go away. You can't prevent a negative thought, but you can make it disappear. The key to your success is clearly defining what you want and then visualizing the end result. Who knows what next year has in store for you? As long as you can see the finish line, and you have a good reason for crossing it, you are already on your way.