Millions of people are gearing up for the holiday season. It starts at Thanksgiving and wraps up with a celebration of the New Year.
Big hope and goals are set for 2014. We are going to eat better, exercise more and make more money. They are all reasonable and achievable goals. So what’s the reason we don’t see a bunch of skinny millionaires running around this country? (I wish I could take credit for that comment…it’s not mine.)
Is it lack of desire? Goal setting? It might boil down to something as simple as this: you didn’t make a decision to change. You need to change your ‘decider.’ My very non-scientific description of your decider is that part of your psyche that finally makes a decision to quit thinking about doing something and actually take action.
Here are a couple of tips that will help you change your decider:
- Examine your why. Why do you want to achieve this goal? If it’s because your Mom says you should or all your friends are doing it, that’s probably not a compelling enough why to move you forward.
Getting to your why is not going to happen during the busyness of a work day. It will require getting some downtime and asking the questions. That means you have to turn off your technology and simply think. (A forgotten art in our ever connected society.)
I recently saw an interview with the late Nelson Mandela. During the interview, he shared that spending 27 years in prison gave him a gift that most people don’t get. And that gift was the ability to have time to think and reflect which allowed him to make positive changes in himself.
- Examine your what. What are you willing to do to achieve the goal? What are some things you may have to give up, temporarily, to reach a new level of sales? Leadership? Fitness? Does it mean getting up early to study and practice? Will it require being more proactive and asking for help from your manager or boss? Will you have to endure the few months of pain from sore muscles as your body realizes this new fitness thing is not temporary?
Have a truth telling conversation with yourself. Remember, it’s okay if you DECIDE you are not willing to do the what. At least you’ve made a decision! However, with that decision you also give up the right to complain or whine about your current situation. Accept where you are at in life and quit boring people with your “I’m gonna do this someday…..” monologue.
If you desire a better 2014, change your decider.
