It’s not uncommon for people at this time of year to talk
about their New Year resolutions or the goals they have set. In fact this
morning I had three people ask me this very question.
I am not against this. In fact I have my own process I go
through at the end of each year, which involves me looking at every area of my
life and setting clear goals for the year ahead. In the last 3 years I’ve also
selected a word for the coming year. If you want to know more about this latter
process find more information here.
What was really interesting this morning was that one person
said they had the same resolution as previous years because they never stuck to
it…
It is easy to give up when faced with the first, second, or
third hurdle, so I thought I’d share part of the process I go through each year.
It allows me to identify my own rules for success that help me stay on track,
or at the very least identify what isn’t working.
Reflection on successes
The first step is to reflect over the past year and list,
and by that I mean write them down, all the things you achieved. Consider every
aspect of your life and everything that was an achievement for you no matter
how large or small.
It’s easy for us to forget great things that have happened
and put all our focus on what we didn’t do or should have done.
Take time to look at your list and feel good or even great
about them and acknowledge all that you have achieved. I’ve known some people
to then create their top 10 highlights for the year and use this instead of a
Christmas card. It’s very impressive when you receive one of these too!
Reflection on what you didn’t achieve YET
This second step is important. The mindset you have when
approaching this step is equally important. This isn’t about beating yourself
up, criticising yourself, or getting into any analysis of what could, should or
didn’t happen. It’s simply about recognising that some things, for all sorts of
reasons, haven’t been achieved yet.
Again write this down – list them and then move onto the
last, and for me the most important, step.
Identify YOUR Rules for Success
Now, with both lists in front of you ask yourself these two
questions:
What was it I did that allowed me to succeed and achieve all
that I did last year? What were the rules I had that when I follow them I
succeeded?
Make a note of these.
Then, ask yourself:
What were the rules I wasn’t following, that if you had
followed, would have allowed me to achieve all those things I haven’t yet?
Make a list of these.
This is about taking the learning from the previous year to
ensure you make the best of the next 12 months.
From what you have written down you can now identify the
important things for you to do consistently. This then gives you your own
personal rules for success that you know if you follow them enable you to
succeed.
Keep them somewhere accessible, so that you can refer to them
if you need to. I find that if something isn’t quite working the way I’d hoped,
it’s usually because one or more of my own rules are not being followed.
Here are mine for this year:
- Stay connected – to the people I am working with, my own goals and what I care about.
- Be consistent – in all that I do working on and in my business.
- Believe and trust in myself – we all have times when we doubt ourselves and I am no exception.
- Follow through on things I have committed to do for myself as well as my clients
- Do the work required both professionally and personally – this is another way of saying practice what you preach…
I hope this has given you an approach to help keep yourself
on track and it would be lovely to hear what your own rules for success are –
do let me know at dawn@aurora4success.co.uk
“Success or failure in business is caused more by the
mental attitude than by mental capacities.”
Sir Walter Scott
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