Published in the January 20 – February 2, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
Diana Wood
During this time of year, our calendars and to-do lists get burdened by all the activities that fill our lives here in Morgan Hill. Despite the many activities you enjoy with families and friend in December and January, I encourage you to do an end-of-year exercise I learned years ago — to pause and reflect and set goals for 2016 that you will make a reality through the actions of intentionality.
This exercise is a holiday gift that keeps on giving if it’s used throughout the year. It helped me to grow up, focus on what is truly important in life and self-correct when my actions did not align with my goals and priorities.
It’s a good thing to set up 15 or 30 minutes of quiet, uninterrupted time to pause, look back and reflect on your personal and professional successes and failures in 2015. We all have a limitless number of lessons to be learned in life and there are many ways of growing if we step out of our busy lives and ponder the things that are truly important in our lives during the last 12 months.
As part of the reflection, take a moment to do some goal setting for 2016. Make the shift from looking at goal setting and achieving as something you cannot do, or that you are a failure at doing, and begin to see that goal setting and achieving are part of a natural process of creation. Also, when you make this shift in your perception, detach yourself from the outcome, separate your self value from your result. Know that your failures add great wealth of character to you as a person as you journey to accomplishing your goals.
The purpose of a goal is to benchmark your progress and to encourage you to grow personally and professionally. Some of your goals will be short term, perhaps only a day. Some will be longer, perhaps a week or a month. I suggest if you struggle in achieving goals in the past that you set very short term goals, day goals that will enable you to gain confidence in your ability to keep your word and commitment to yourself. Each small win will build on the last and will begin to create the winning learning model in your mind.
Finally, fill your 2016 calendar with intentional action items rather than settling for a list of good intentions. Many people have their hearts and minds filled with good intentions — but good intentions are not enough. Success comes from taking “actions of intentionality.” Successful people create a written plan and take the best series of action step to make their desires a reality. And they are flexible enough to change their action plan if the learn it is not going taking them in the direction they need to go toward achieving their goals.
I am excited for you and the results you will experience in taking time to pause and reflect, set 2016 goals and scheduling actions of intentionality. The New Year 2016 could be your best year ever as a result of pausing and reflecting on the lessons you’ve learned and acknowledging the best teacher there is. . . the teacher of experience.
Diana Wood is a Morgan Hill resident who is a certified John Maxwell Team coach, speaker and trainer who founded Wood Motivation. She wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life.
