January is Go (Get Organized & Be Productive) Month and the perfect time to start anew. Getting organized can be about many facets of your life, including New Year’s resolutions, new goals, a new direction or even a new purpose. All driven toward a final destination, that many of us struggle to attain. I love new beginnings, the start of each day, the change of seasons and my first session with a new client. The question is, how do we successfully channel all that initial positivity into achieving our goals?
January is the perfect time to evaluate the coming year and determine how we want to move forward; so, in honor of GO Month, I would like to propose that we try a different perspective toward goal setting. I work with many clients who spend too much time in a cycle that I call the “negativity loop”. The negativity loop is what happens when we set a goal, start working toward that goal, falter, then mentally and emotionally batter ourselves for being less than perfect. Not the best strategy for goal attainment.
I want to be clear that I believe goal setting and attainment are important and necessary; however, there are many ways to achieve a goal. Sometimes a goal can be thought of as more of a journey and less of a destination. With all goals, there will be some roadblocks, setbacks and we might even stumble along the way. These barriers are where we often get stuck, lose our way and abandon our goals. There will always be obstacles and setbacks; however, we can choose how we interpret the obstacles we encounter.
Goal attainment can often require lifestyle changes or the formation of new habits. Learning how to get and stay organized, or choosing to become vegetarian, are examples of goals that are more journey verses destination-based. These are goals that often require a lot of practice to attain. We think of practice when it comes to learning how to play an instrument or learning a sport, but not when it comes to lifestyle changes. We set our goal in January to get organized, and the first time our schedule gets hectic and our system falters, we become discouraged, berate ourselves and give up. Stumbling along the path of goal attainment, does not make us bad or lesser people. It only makes us human.
The key is to stay the course. Show ourselves some kindness. Understand that we do make mistakes and continue toward our goal. We may even need to make adjustments as we go along to determine what is and is not working, with an emphasis on what IS working. By putting the focus on what works, we can build a path to a lifestyle change that will endure. For those who can’t help but to focus on what isn’t working, ask yourself WHY it’s not working. Then use the answer to that question to overcome the roadblock and turn it into a positive. This path may take a little longer and require more patience, but the more we practice, the closer we will get to living our best life.
