Monday, January 03, 2011

Out with the Old/In with the New

So have you made your New Year Resolution? I heard a quote that 4 out of 5 people fail to achieve their resolutions. It sounds like we need a better plan to succeed.

For many years, fire has been used in ceremonies; from Buddhist monks or Native Americans burning prayers to the Burning Man ceremony; this has been a way to get rid of bad karma and move on. I've participated in a burning bowl ceremony, where people write down what they want to get rid of (bad habits etc) and put them in a bowl to burn. I like the idea of getting rid of something old in order to make room for something new. If we want to lose weight, we need to give up our bad eating habits.

This might be a symbolic first step, but we still need a plan if we want to succeed. This time of year I plan out my racing plans for the coming season; key races I plan on participating in, goals I want to achieve etc. Based on that, I plan out the type of training I need to be doing, down to a weekly level. As I get into the year, the plan may get modified, but I have a plan to follow, not just a vague resolution to exercise more. We need this for any of our resolutions; a plan to ensure we can achieve success. So set some goals for the year (resolutions) and plan out how you're going to reach them. What are you doing this week to help reach those goals?

2 comments:

  1. Bob, love the post. I make goals every year. So that I don't forget about them, I add them to a Personal Kanban. First, I add goal "candidates" to a backlog. If I can map them back to my core value goals, they can continue as being something worth dedicating time to. I decompose them to actionable tasks and complete them a little chuck at a time. You know the saying, "even an elephant can be eaten, if you take one bite at a time".

    Have a great year!

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  2. Thanks for the comment Derek. You hit the point, it's not making the goals in the abstract, you have to then have a plan to achieve them.

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