New Year Goal Check-In

A few weeks ago, we got into our new year goal-setting and visualization process. While you may not be seeing a great deal of change yet, you should be feeling the tension growing between where you are and where you want to be. This is perfectly natural. In fact, it is necessary. Keep the picture of where you want to be growing ever stronger, and your behavior will follow.

It is reasonable to start to feel that all of these “wants” are beginning to sound selfish. Any time you put the word “I” at the head of a sentence, it automatically becomes about “me.” But in order to grow a better “me,” or a better you, you will need to set the goals for yourself. This is not something someone else can do for you, any more than you could force someone else to change.

What is important here is the quality of the goals you set. If you are setting goals for enormous financial gain, power, or the run up the corporate ladder, that’s OK – if that is the end you want. However, the real point of setting these goals, and affirming their achievement, is to unlock those skills and talents that have been lying dormant inside you. All of that potential that is inside each of us is wasted if it is ignored or left unfulfilled. The world will be a poorer place because of it.

When you honestly work at building a better you, you are positively influencing those around you. You are becoming a better spouse, parent or grandparent; a better brother or sister or child. Your relationships at work improve, and you become a coach, in a sense, to those around you. This influence begins to extend out to your neighborhood and community, to your city or town, and to your nation. By doing this, we all begin to build a better world.

Wonderful things can come from this simple, “selfish” act of setting goals. What can you see?
Where are you missing out on being “more”? What comes next in your life? What is inside you that could be a positive contribution to the world around you?