Here we are at the time of year where many people experience the mixed emotions of satisfaction and ‘regret’ for things achieved and not achieved in the previous twelve months and ‘anticipation’ for what lies ahead. People like you, amidst the festive celebrations are thinking about the changes to make in 2008, are you? How committed are you to doing something different with your life in 2008, something that when you look back in years to come, really stands out, are you committed?
The personal development industry prides itself on its action orientated mentality with motivational speakers shouting “take action now” to whoops of “yes” from the hyped up people in their audiences. The frenzied action that follows is often wasted as the individual soon loses focus. Their energy becomes spent and their rainbow dissolves long before they get even close to their pot of gold. While this may sound negative, it is a reasonably accurate description of what can happen. Particularly when action is taken without really knowing what pot of gold you are seeking, before you go wildly chasing rainbows.
Knowing yourself and what you really want is crucial to personal success. This level of self awareness provides you with a means of channelling your time and energy in an effective way. The question is how do you increase your level of self awareness so that you know your efforts are well spent and will deliver the success you want?
As 2007 is now at its end you may want reflect on how your year of 2007 went. Did you have a vision for 2007 and set meaningful goals? Did your goals materialise, and if they didn’t were they not meaningful or did they just change? Did you forget what you wanted and get caught up in life, rather than living it? Was there no need to work out a vision or goals because what you want is so intuitive and natural you just make it happen? Here are some questions to help you reflect.
Your personal space is a metaphor for how you direct attention and how you live. You could even say your personal space is a direct mapping for your inner thoughts. Here is an interesting process:
How well you relate to your friends and associates is indicative of who you are as a person. Remember you have choice in the people you pick as friends and associates (unlike family). Who you chose to spend your time with and what you do when you are with friends will determine quite a lot with regard to your self fulfilment and personal success.
So far you have reviewed and reflected on your goals and vision for 2007, the metaphors of your personal space and your relationships. You can now review other areas of your life if you wish, such as intimate relationships, career, wealth, and so on. You will find the observer position useful in your reviews as well as associating to your own and others’ perspectives in different contexts. The object of the reflections is for you to take learnings from the last year so you can plan the year ahead.
The level of attention and then focussed action you give to an area of life will determine how successful you are in that area of life. It is useful to be balanced in life, so all areas of your life are receiving appropriate attention. Think about all the areas of life that are important to you, family, personal relationships health, career and so on. From your reflections, where do you want to put your attention in 2008?
Imagine it’s 31st December 2008, you are at a New Years Eve party that you created for your nearest and dearest and selection of handpicked friends and associates to celebrate the passing of a wondrous 2008 and the greeting of a 2009 that you already know will be awesome (you can invite people you have not yet met yet in reality but who you want to meet). You are the centre piece with your loved ones at this party. You are just about to make a speech to all the people who are gathered around you. You smile, inwardly happy at your achievements. As you view this scene in your minds eye…….. answer the following questions……
Now in the scene, let your speech unfold. Remember you are an observer of this scene, listen and watch as you hear the special acknowledgements and thanks you make to the people who have contributed to your life. Hear the 2008 success story come from you – in your scene.
This need not be just a vision make it your reality, set some goals.
Your goals will come in all shapes and sizes. The NLP well formed outcomes process is an excellent way to set goals. Here is the process.
Your goals will be:
If you have followed through on the processes in this article, you will have reflected on 2007, you created a vision for 2008 and now have some concrete goals for 2008. Now its time to take action. If you have read my previous articles you will know about the ‘butterfly effect’ applied to goal setting. From your goals pick the smallest part in the system (of each goal) that will have the most leverage and take action on that immediately. This will set up the chain of events that will make the goal happen and the 2008 vision a reality.
May I wish you a thoroughly rewarding 2008.
