4 Helpful Tips for your New Year Goals
January 3, 2014 • Insights on Life, Learn
The magnificent Borobudur Temple in Central Java, Indonesia.
Happy New Year everyone!
When it comes around this time of the year I always hear people talking about their goals for the year. It’s great to have goals. But I always recommend for people to also outline a path to that goal. A clear plan. The goal itself is not very useful if there is no clear plan on how to get there. A few things to keep in mind as you outline your path to your goal.
1. Figure out where you are right now on that path. Knowing where you are helps you to get to where you want to go.
2. Keep your goals realistic. Don’t create a goal that is far more that what you can achieve. For example: People often come up to me after a meditation workshop and say I want to start meditating for half an hour a day. I ask them “how long do you meditate for now?” The answer is usually “I’m not meditating at all now.” Well, you can’t go from zero to 30 minutes a day. You need to build up to it. So, start with 1 minute a day. Seems short I know but what it will help you do is create a sustainable meditation practice which you can then grow.
3. Create a systematic plan that involves change in small increments. A magnificent stone temple is built one stone at a time. You can’t change completely overnight. This rarely happens and if it does, it does because there is an external intense experience that often is unforeseen. For example, someone you love dies. So, if your goal for instance is to give up drinking coffee, something that you do every day, then I suggest drinking coffee for 6 days of the week instead or 7 during the first month. Then the following month drink coffee for only 5 days of the week throughout the month. And so on. After 7 months you will not be drinking coffee any more. This is doable and achievable. Too many people are in a hurry these days to get to where they want to go and they end up creating lifestyles that they can’t sustain. Take your time. It is not a race.
4. List the new things you will begin doing, the past things that you will continue to do and the past things that you will stop doing. Insert this list into your systematic plan for the new year.
I hope this is helpful to you. I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions. Please leave them in the comments below for me.
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