WAY TO A FULFILLING NEW YEAR

For many people, last year was unsuccessful. For others, it was average performance. No matter how last year was for you, you can’t change it.

But in your hands lie the power to chart the course for a successful and fulfilling 2016. That’s why today, I want to share with you some truths you that can help you have a fulfilling year and save you from regrets at the end of the year.

By the way, last year, I published an eBook, Seven Keys to a Successful Year End* subtitled, Year End for Best New Year. I encourage you to still get the book and read the last four chapters as we begin the New Year.

Now what can we do to make sure we have a fulfilling year? Here is my list.

[Please, this is a lengthy post (2000 plus words). You can download the PDF version of it  by clicking HERE.]

Set Goals for the New Year

Goals are destination for where you are going. If you don’t have a destination or target, your efforts and toiling within the year will not have direction.

Goals are pictures of the future you want; not setting goal will rub you the motivating effect of a challenging goal to wake up and go on with your life daily.

Goals serve as pull when you feel like giving up. They wake you up when your body wants you to sleep too much. They call you to order when you disperse your time, money and energy without focus.

Goals help you appraise how you fared within this year. They serve as benchmark for your performance within the year.

When you don’t have a goal for your life, you are likely to live your life fulfilling other people’s goal without making any making any progress in your life. Even if you have to fulfill others people’s goal, having a goal ensures that you do it within the context of fulfilling your own goal.

I believe the goals should not be so broad that you over look some crucial specifics. Set goals for the key areas of your life like your family, career, relationships, finance etc. As they teach in management, set long and short term goal in each of these areas of your life.

In setting goals, it’s important that your goal is something you can really achieve. Setting goals to hard for you to achieve will only bring you discouragement in the course of your pursuit. It’s better to start with setting small goals and expands as you achieve them.

Develop an Effective Plan

Plan is a blueprint of how you will pursue and attain the goals you have set for yourself for the year. It’s a detail of strategy for achieving your goal for the year. It’s an outline of what to do, how to do them, when to do them and with whom to do them so as to achieve your goal.

For Alan Lakein, “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”

Apart from having the big plan for the year, please have a daily and weekly plan of action. All of them should gear towards achieving your goal for the year. Your jotter or smart phone is crucial in your daily/weekly planning. For me, I have to use the sticky note on my computer as well as the hard copy sticky note just to ensure I have a list of and attend to the numerous things I have each day and avoid wasting my time.

Ideally, you are supposed to have made and concluded your line up of action before this year. But if have not, still go ahead to make a plan. Don’t wait until it’s perfect before you step out. No matter how good it’s is, you may still have to tweak it along the line.  I believe that “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”George S. Patton. So don’t sit down forever trying to develop the best plan possible.

In developing an effective plan, ensure you don’t break the steps for achieving your goal into bulks that are too big. For instance, don’t write that you will read two chapters of a book a day when you know that your environment and daily preoccupation may not permit that. Make it clear what you have to do, how long it will take you to do them and when you are going to do them.

Take Action; Execute Your Plans

Goals are wonderful things you want to achieve in this New Year. Plans are blueprints for achieving your goals. But these are all useless if no action is taken to implement the plans outlined in the goals. That’s why you need to take action from day one and not wait till the end of the first month.

Please take one step at a time. Don’t try to achieve your goal by magic. Do what you can every time of the day to ensure you achieve your goal. Be careful to ensure that your actions towards achieving your goals don’t affect people that matter in your life.

Before I leave this matter of taking action to achieve your goal, I like to remind you in the words of Jack Canfield that  “Successful people …stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them.”

Maximize Your Time

Time is the currency with which you pay for the action you will take to implement your plans. How you use every time of your day affects your overall performance at the end of the year.

Maximizing your time is getting the maximum value possible for your time. It means using every of your time for the best use possible. This requires that when you are sleeping, you should be sleeping properly. When you are playing, you are really playing and when it’s time for work, you get down to work and really work. The time for work is not time for long chatty conversation. It shouldn’t also be a time for social media chat, except that is your work.

Many things will compete for your attention in this year. But you must prioritise! Yes you must otherwise you will while away your time doing very unimportant things when there are key things begging for your attention. You have set goals and you have a plan, ensure you don’t allow distractions take you way from sticking with your plan and line of action.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying you should be so rigid that you don’t make allowances to help people and attend to emergencies. Please make allowances for such but please don’t allow it to eat so deep into your time that you will lose track of your blueprint for reaching your goal. Bil Keane rightly talked when he observed, “Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” Please put this gift to maximum use. If you abuse it, you can’t get it back!

Associate for Assistance

In life, the saying that iron sharpens iron is very true. All your association exerts a force on you. It’s either a pull or push force. Now that you have set goals and have a line of action to achieve them, you must ensure that you get close to those that will encourage you to achieve your goal. Distance yourself from people that will make it difficult for you to achieve it. Get closer to others that will encourage you or at least not distract you from achieving your goal.

Seriously, you don’t have any business with lay about student when you have set the goal of making your dead CGP in school come back to life. The book worm should be your closest ally.

You have set a goal that you want to be promoted rapidly this year, leave those that hate your boss and your place of work. Their negative criticism and nagging has the capacity to drain your zeal for peak performance. In the same vein, if you have set a goal of being faithful to your spouse, or maintaining chastity as a single youth, stop hanging out with the promiscuous.

Even on the web, you should be careful the website and social media page, group or account you associate with it. They can’t leave you the same. When any matter is discussed in such groups, know that all kind of people talk. You must disconnect yourself from them or put a sieve in your ears that cross checks whatever you take in against true moral values.

Please I am not saying you should segregate. My point is that you should try as much as possible in reducing distracting influences from people and increase encouraging influences.

Persevere in Your Pursuit

In the pursuit of your goal, you are sure to encounter challenges and discouragements. Yes! But you must not give up the joy of seeing your goal achieved because of challenges.

Having encountered a number of challenges in life, I believe that when challenges meet you, they want to test how resolute you are about achieving your life goal. If you refuse to bow to its pains and pressure, it will step aside to allow you free ride to your goal.

That’s why I believe that if read and forget, it doesn’t mean you can still make 300 in JAMB or clinch 5.0 GP this semester. It only means you have to re-strategise on how to retain what you have read.

If you goal is not make up your mind to make at least 3 sales every week and the  first  ten people you  turn you down, it doesn’t mean you can’t still reach your goal. It may be that you have just meet first ten people who don’t want what you are selling. Or you didn’t make your presentation well; if that’s case, refine it. Continue your pursuit until you even supersede your target. Keep your eye on the benefit of your goal and you the motivation to keep pressing on will be ever present with you.

No matter what the amount of challenge you encounter in pursuit of your goal, keep the words of Maya Angelou in your mind: “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

Make God go before You

In life there are most certainly hidden battles you have to have to fight. They are obstacles on the way you can’t tackle by yourself. You really need God to tackle them. Get God on your journey this year. It is not necessarily by going to church on the Crossover Night to pray. You have to lead your life with the consciousness that He is with you.

God went before David and his single stone brought down a well armed and equipped giant. If he goes before you in your finance, career and family, he will bring down any giant that will stand on your way.

Don’t just expect him to do miracles for you; ensure you do what he want you to do. There is always something you have to do in your walk with God to make it fruitful. When God starts the journey of going through this year with you, it’s doesn’t mean that there may never challenges. In the face of any challenge, like Jesus’ disciples did in the stormy boat, run to God for help.

Let’s pray: As we journey this year, may we experience quantum leap in our career, family and personal life. May God’s manifest presence be with us every day of our life in this year? May we have #FulfilingNewYear in Jesus name!

*You can download the eBook free HERE 

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