New Year’s Resolutions – Don’t Bother…
So just this week I was at the obligatory New Year’s party.
You know the scene.
Well, all I could hear was talk of resolutions:
“ This year I’m going to change jobs for definite”.
“This year I’m going to start my own business”.
“This year I’m gonna tell the boss where to shove it”.
“This year I’m gonna be the boss”.
“This year I’m going to change jobs – no, I really mean it.”
Yes, you’ve been there. I know. You’ve heard the same things, maybe even the same words, said in the same way.
Forgive me if I sound a little cynical but words are easily spoken.
Me, I like actions not words, show me what you are doing, don’t tell what you are going to do.
So the whole party rattled on about resolutions. And then they turned to me.
“And you?” they asked.
“Me? I don’t do New Year’s resolutions”.
A quiet descended upon what had been up until then a very noisy party.
“You don’t do resolutions…” one woman said to me in a tone as if I had just admitted to a homicide.
“That’s right. Never have, and never will.”
A man looked at me quizzically.
“How come?” he asked.
I didn’t say I didn’t make resolutions, I told them. Only once a year seems a bit slight, and a bit desperate.
Let me explain.
My life doesn’t begin or end on the 31st December or 1st January. I live 365 days a year – fully alive. So I make 365 resolutions.
Daily resolutions, weekly plans, monthly goals, yearly targets …
You see where I’m going here, right?
Now I know to achieve anything in life, never mind in business, you have to be focused. It’s real important. So I focus at the beginning of each day. Set a goal. Hit it, or try again the next day. Then when that goal is taken care of, I aim for a new one, and so on. It’s amazing what you can achieve one step at a time.
Goals aren’t enough though. Yes, you read that right. Goals are not enough.
Goals without a vision – an overarching plan, are just temporary staging posts on a road going nowhere. You need to start with the vision first and then set the goals to get there. Harder to do I’ll agree but without it you’re going round in circles or no place in particular.
So this year, I’m going to make a resolution: to keep on making daily resolutions with clear goals for the day, the week, the month and the year. And I’m going to spend some of this holiday time thinking about where I want to go this year and then setting that vision before my mind and working towards it, one step at a time.
Mount Bonnell is founded on this principle. To change people’s lives one step at a time. That’s our philosophy.
With us there is no hard sell. No stop watch marketing. No fast talking, no fast bucks.
We like to take things a bit slower, so as to get them right – for you and for us. Better right than fast, I’m sure you’ll agree.
2019 is going to be our “slowest” year yet.
So Happy New Year, and good luck with the 2nd January resolution…
