Have you noticed how quickly time flies by these days. No sooner have have you set your New Years resolutions than the year is over. Do you ever wonder where all of your time goes? We all know that 'New Year Resolutions' are pretty ineffective and you won't be surprised to hear that I won't be advising you set any this year. However having said that, the end of one year and the beginning of a new one seems to be a natural time (along with out birthdays) that people sometimes reflect on where they are in life, and what they would like to achieve.
The problem is that most people don't do this in a structured way and usually set goals that seem important in the moment.
This may seem OK, but 'in the moment' we are all surrounded by media images of 'perfect' lives that don't exist combined with state of the art iNFLuencing and advertising techniques designed to get us to aspire to things we don't need. Most people are easy prey to this and spend far too much of their lives on the wrong side of the T. V. screen responding to short term urges manipulated by marketing professionals until they are inextricably linked to the programs people 'choose' to watch. This sort of advertising relies on the fact that most people haven't decided what is really important to them and then followed this up with a personal commitment to live to their own mission.
In fact, with the pace of modern life most people are so busy just getting by, that they don't believe they have time to plan. You really wouldn't believe the amount of emails I get from people saying they haven't had time to read the 7 chapters of Take Control. This used to really surprise me; each chapter is 1-2 pages long and takes maybe 5 minutes to read. It seems to me that, as so often in life, the people who believe they have the least time, are those that most need to take some time out to plan!
Many people choose not to take the time to set clear goals and spend most of their time reacting to the plans and priorities of others. They would love to be in control of their own lives, but they just don't have the time, maybe they have TV to watch!
Stephen Covey uses the term 'Sharpening the Saw' and this relates to the story of the woodcutter who was so busy sawing with his blunt saw, that he couldn't spare the time to sharpen his saw! If this rings any bells for you, then I wonder how much time you would save if you were to become a master of effective planning, backed up with the discipline to work the plan.
How would you reply if I were to ask you: what you want to have achieved and who you want to become in 1, 5 and 10 years? Have you even given this any serious thought?
Think of it this way, in 5 years you will arrive, the question is will you be someone who was happy to let this happen by chance? or will you be one of the few who will took the time to set clear goals and developed a plan to achieve them?
Its only by sitting down and consciously deciding what is truly important to you and how you'd like to contribute to the world, or even just those around you, that you can develop the big picture vision on how you'd like your life to turn out. Taking some time out regularly to plan and measure how you are doing could well be the 'missing' third step to taking control of your life?
As part of my training commitments between now and the end of the year I'll be reviewing my mission and goals before updating my plan for their achievement. For example I am committed to helping even more people take control of their own lives and in order to do this I will be moving increasingly into running seminars and workshops and taking Motivational speaking engagements worldwide. Make no mistake successful as I have been as a coach these things won't just happen on their own - they'll take courage, vision, commitment and planning.
My aims for telling you this are quite simple, when I meet you at seminars in the years ahead, be they in Brisbane, Auckland, London, San Francisco, Northallerton or elsewhere - you'll know not only that I walk my talk, but also if I can create my dream life, so can you - and that seems a great place for you to be at the start of a seminar.
So speaking to you as someone who is committed to personal development, I'd like to ask - If you really could have anything, what would you want in your life and who would you need to become to make this a reality?
If 20-year-old redundant welder with no useful qualifications can transform himself into 1st class honours graduate and International Life Coach, then what excuse would you use to prevent yourself becoming whatever you want in life? and please don't tell me you don't have enough time.
I've committed publicly to my vision for my future professional life and that's the last tip for today - once you've decided - go public, the best people to tell are those who'll delight in telling you you've failed - you see if you re-frame the behaviour even people who seem a pain can unknowingly become your number one cheerleader, motivating you towards even greater success and fulfillment in your life!
It's your life, choose to live it today.
