Ahhhh, yes, here we are, at the beginning of another new year and you’ve already set (or are planning to set) a number of goals for yourself. You’ve examined what went well in 2015. You’ve taken a look at what didn’t go well in 2015. And you’ve dusted yourself off so that you can hit the re-set button for 2016.
That’s all great news. It really is — and you should be proud of yourself. But there’s just one problem.
You did the same thing last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. The challenge is that you might not have accomplished everything you set out to accomplish.
That can be a little defeating. After all, if year after year you’re still focusing on the same goals with no big results to speak of, it can be like a kick in the teeth.
Well, I have some good news. 2016 is going to be better. Much better.
This year, you are going to accomplish your goals in business, in life, in relationships and in everything else you have planned.
How are you going to do this? By shifting the way you think about your goals and recognizing a few things about human nature in the process.
Let’s start with some good news – Studies show that you and most other human beings are rather optimistic about life.
In fact, a study from the University of Kansas that included more than 150,000 people around the globe found that 95 percent of individuals expected their life in five years to be as good or better than their life was five years ago.
That’s good news because it highlights a lesson you learned when you skinned your knee while riding your bike as a child.
What did you learn then?
That when you skin your knee, the world doesn’t come to an end and your life doesn’t fall apart. In fact, instead of crying about your skinned knee, you probably dusted yourself off, got back on the bike, and continued on your merry way.
Not long ago, I wrote about this — the tendency for humans to bounce back after failure — in a post called Why Failure Can be Your Most Valuable Friend. I received a lot of nice feedback from that post because it talked about the fact that for every big success I’ve had, I’ve had about 8 equally big failures.
If you feel as though you’ve had a few setbacks here and there, you might read that blog post.
It’ll provide some insights on how you can use grit and determination to plow through some of your more challenging moments.
Of course, there’s an alternative to grit and determination. I wrote about this new technique a few months ago in a blog post called A Better Way to Set Goals and Achieve What You Want in Life.
I did some research for the post around goals and goal setting. Here’s a list of the most common goals people set for themselves at the beginning of each new year.
The good news is that more than 50% of those surveyed set goals for themselves like the ones above. In other words, they were intentional about how they wanted their life to turn out. (Being intentional about your life is a big idea. Ponder it when you have a moment.)
The not-so-good news is that only 8% of the people who set goals for themselves actually accomplish them. In other words, 92% of the time they fail.
Here’s an excerpt from the blog post mentioned above that might shed some light on this new technique I’ve been using over the past few months.
There’s a new concept I’m embracing right now. Instead of focusing on my goals, I’m focusing on the system I have around those goals. In other words, instead of having a laser-beam focus on the end result, I have a laser-beam focus on the processes I’ve put in place to help me accomplish the goals.
If you’re like most people, there have probably been times in your life when you wanted to lose a few pounds. The typical approach to that is to focus your attention on the end result — some people even go so far as to create vision boards of what they’ll look like 5 pounds thinner.
Again, I’m not against visualization (because it works all the time for me), but imagine the change if, instead of focusing on the 5 pounds, you spent your time focusing on the system you’re going to use in order to lose the 5 pounds.
In other words, instead of saying to yourself “I will lose 5 pounds,” you said these things to yourself:
- I will eat protein for breakfast instead of carbs
- I will climb the stairs instead of take the elevator
- I will eat a salad with chicken for lunch instead of eating beef and carbs
- I will have water at dinner instead of a glass of wine
- I will eat an orange for dessert instead of having a cookie
The key, however, isn’t to just say these things. The key is to shift your focus from losing 5 pounds to living a more healthy lifestyle.
In other words, instead of focusing on the 5 pounds, you focus on the system that results in healthy eating.
By focusing on the system, two things happen — first, you’re paying attention to the most important aspect of the goals/systems approach. Second, and perhaps more importantly, you won’t feel disappointed if the outcome is different from your expectation.
In other words, what if you used the system above, didn’t lose the weight, but lowered your body fat and your cholesterol instead? Would you feel as disappointed because you didn’t lose the 5 pounds? Of course not.
Action Steps for You:
- Embrace the Concept: This is a new concept for me and it’s taken me a little while to wrap my mind around it. But now that I have, I’m eager to give it a whirl. I’d encourage you to embrace the concept, too.
- Tell a Friend: I’ve found that when I talk about new ideas to my friends and family, the concepts get etched into my brain. When they get etched into my brain, I remember them and put them into action. Be sure to tell a friend about this new system. (Click here to tell your friends via Twitter.)
- Give it a Whirl: There’s no point in understanding a concept unless you put it into action.
- Track Your Results: What do you want to accomplish? To lose weight? To have more work/life balance? To have better relationships? By focusing on the systems around those objectives, you might find that you’re more likely to achieve them.
I hope you found the excerpt above helpful. I’ve found the new system to be extremely valuable in the latter half of 2015 and am looking forward to leveraging it even more in 2016.
I’m convinced 2016 is going to be my best year yet on both a business and a personal front. We have many, many exciting things going on (such as the launch of the Mobile X Festival and the re-branding of 60 Second Communications to Sixty).
I’m looking forward to the ride. More importantly, I’m looking forward to having you join me.
Ready for your best year yet? I am.
About the Author: Jamie Turner is the CEO of the 60 Second Marketer and SIXTY, a digital and mobile marketing agency. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.
