I have a friend who, on many weekends, tends to get frustrated with her husband. You see, this guy is a high-strung, high energy, A-Type who often on the weekends will assemble a massive list of all the things he wants to get accomplished in the next two days.
The problem he consistently runs into is the frustration that he feels when, by Sunday afternoon, he is lucky if a third of the items is accomplished. Something inevitably gets in the way, or more often, one or two of the agenda items took way more time than planned.
So what it comes down to is, by setting up a massive goal list and expecting to complete it in two days, he was setting himself up for failure. Does this sound familiar?
I don’t know about you, but I am so good at failure, I certainly don’t need to plan on it.
Indeed, I am all for the notion of “Make no small goals…” Most of us want to make a significant, lasting and positive impact in our lives and in the world in which we live. But if your goals include changing the world in 2018, you may need to dial that back and focus on something a little less global…like your zip code. Otherwise, you may likely just be setting yourself up for failure, frustration, and despair.
It comes down to the age-old question: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And that’s the point here. If you want to set out to change the world, get some FOCUS first on your neighborhood, or perhaps even a specific group of people you can help better than anyone else. As you have a significant positive impact on your local sphere of influence, it is likely that sphere will grow. And as your sphere grows…so does your influence. Get the picture?
I am looking at what I’ve got going on in 2018 with probably more intensity than I have had in several years. And that’s a good thing. But I haven’t simply been waiting for the new year to arrive…even today I am breaking those ambitious goals down into checklists that I can start and finish in the here-and-now…because in reality the NOW is all we really ever have.
So I hope you also are looking at 2018 with enthusiasm and excitement for what it can bring, and are planning accordingly. We here at SYP Media hope to be a part of it—in some small way if not a large one.
On that note, I want to wish you and yours a very Happy and Blessed New Year.