you do not stop."
Confucius, Chinese Philosopher
Look at yourself and your life 10 to 15 years down the road. If you stay on the present course, will you be where you wanted to be? If not, now is the time to change - change course!
"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached,
don't adjust the goals,
adjust the action steps."
Confucius, Chinese Philosopher
I have written about setting SMART goals, re-evaluating our life, evaluating our progress, to-do lists, and other tools that can help us be successful and also happier in the coming year. The first of the twelve new months has come and gone, did you learn anything new? Did you accomplish any of last years goals? Did you start with all all new goals this year or carry some over from 2019?
I would hope you accomplished something last year. I hope that you did not sit still and that you made progress towards a more fulfilling life on FIRE!
If you didn't, why? When you took time this month to re-evaluate the past year and where you ended up the during the year, what did you learn? Did you see any areas that you neglected? Did you even look at your goals year? Did you make a SMART plan to accomplish those goals? Did you stick to it?
If you continue to do what you are doing now for your health, wealth, relationships, etc., will you be where you want to be in 10 years? 15 years? Do you know where you want to be in the future? The most important thing is to know where you want to end up and then devise a plan to get you there.
For example, do you want to be a self supporting artist? Do you want to be financially able to travel more? Do you want to get married and have a family? Where do you want to be? How are you going to get there? Wishing will not get you where you want to be. Doing will.
If you know your destination, you can map out a trail to get there. If you don't know your destination, you will spend your life wandering aimlessly in circles and never getting anywhere but where you are.
The tools are available to help you in laying out a path to your perfect life. The SMART plan for goal setting is the easiest and the most effective tool out there today. It is not new, but few people actually use it. They will read about it, agree with it, then go about doing everyday things the same way with the same results.
We have all heard of Einstein's quote "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". Well, it's true. But more than that, it's a waste of time, a waste of life.
Most people live their lives allowing everything to take priority over their goals except their goals. They struggle to get through each day just to live the next day the same way. Then at the end of 10 years they look back at their life only to see that they have not made any progress, not met any goals, and are still living the same way they always do. Those goals and those dreams they had, all fall by the wayside and are continually unfulfilled.
Procrastination is the name of the game for most people.
"I'll make up for the lost time tomorrow", "I have too much to do today, I will start that quilt tomorrow or the next day", "There's a good movie on tonight, so I think I will take the night off and watch it. The blog post I was writing can wait another day," these are typical excuses that people make to put off doing what they claim they want to do or that will lead them to accomplishing their goals.
They can have the tools to set goals, set a plan to accomplish those goals, and the opportunities to accomplish those goals, but unless they act upon that plan or take advantage of that opportunity, the goals will never be accomplished.
Set your mind to accomplishing your goals,
follow your plan and seize the opportunities as they come.
You will thank yourself in 10 years when you have the life you want and have achieved the goals you set out for yourself.
Make it happen!
"Success is steady progress toward one's personal goals."
Jim Rohn, American Author and Businessman (died: 2009, age 69)
Remember, if you are not seeing any progress in your plan to accomplish your goals and dreams, change the plan not the goals and not the dreams.
Do you have your goals written down? Do you have a plan to following to make progress on your goals and fulfilling your dreams? Are they realistic? Did you use the SMART system for setting your goals and creating your steps to achieving them? If not, what plan did you use? No plan? How's that working for you?
XOXO