You say you want a resolution
“I aspire to try to be a teacher to my young fans who feel just like I felt when I was younger... I just felt like a freak. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want to liberate them; I want to free them of their fear and make them feel that they can create their own space in the world.”
- Lady Gaga, in her interview with Barbara Walters from The Ten Most Fascinating People of 2009 (youtube)
Happy (Gregorian) New Year, and welcome to 2010!
With a fresh new start on not only the year but the decade, I’m sure there are some of you out there that have given some thought to making some new year’s resolutions. For some, this is the time when they set new plans in motion and forge lasting changes… for others, it’s two and a half weeks of no cookies, followed by just as many cookies as last year. =D So this seemed to me to be a very natural time to a fresh look at Goal Setting.
Our current section already has a variety of nice tips, so here’s some brand new ideas:
Expect failure
Heh, I know it sounds horrible, but unless your success is 100% assured, setbacks are a really normal part of goal-setting (and of life)! Even failure can be positive, though: From it, you can learn what doesn’t work and help you to adjust what you’re doing and increase your chance of success! Instead of waiting for the perfect moment to act, you may have to try with what you have and risk failing to learn more… Instead of “falling down”, think of it as “falling upwards“. How you handle failure is one of the most important factors in how successful you will be.
Talk/Write it out
If you have great people around you to support you, take advantage! Talking your goals out is a great way of getting a clearer picture of not only what you want but why it’s important to you. That way, if it’s not real important to you or doesn’t ignite any passion in you, you can consider adjusting the goal to something that excites you more. If you’re having trouble getting motivated, having a “goal buddy” can help… someone who will go to the gym at 6am with you, for example.
Even if you don’t have someone to talk to about it right now, consider writing your goals and progress down on paper. This will help you to remember them, as well as giving you the chance to review them and see how you’re doing!
Looking past your goal
Your life will be about more than “crossing finish lines”. Those goals are good too, of course, but what comes after the finish line? Becoming a better person is a process that continues between races and while crossing that finish line sure feels good and shows you that you’re making concrete progress, your real goal may be to be the kind of person that crosses finish lines all the time! By making some of your goals about creating positive habits rather than one-shot wins, you can look “beyond the finish line” so that you can continually improve.
Goals don’t just have to be about doing something… they can also be about being something.
Believe in yourself
This is the most important, but also sometimes the hardest one. You might be convinced that you can’t do it, but it may help to admit that it’s possible.
Imagine a dartboard… now imagine it on the other side of a football field. The easy thing to say would be “there’s no way I can throw a dart and hit that”, but the honest answer is that it’s just really, really, really unlikely. But every step you take towards that dartboard gives you a better and better chance of hitting the bullseye. Maybe you’ll learn a better way to hold the dart… or learn how the wind will affect your throw… or you’ll work on your arm strength by exercising.
… and maybe one day you’ll be standing right in front of that dartboard, wondering how you ever thought it would be impossible to hit it.
Posted by Youth In BC at January 9th, 2010 under Blog.
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Forward: What we would’ve said last week…
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