Did you ever think that perhaps the reason you haven’t either maintained your New Year’s Resolutions or achieved your goals might be because they are NOT really YOUR goals?
This is a common reason for “failure” or “falling off the wagon” of your goals.
The goals you have made in the past may actually be those implanted in your brain by your parents, your siblings, your peers, your teachers, your spiritual leaders or even society as a whole.
I was listening to the radio on the way back from swimming this a.m. and they were talking about setting goals for fitness (and of course they also meant weight loss) and how you should reward yourself if you met your goal for that week (for example).
I couldn’t help but think about that and wonder if that isn’t also potentially negative.
Let’s say your goal was to go to the gym 3 times this week or to write 3 articles this week.
And let’s say you set your reward as buying a new book.
2010 ended much differently than it started for me. and that was a good – no, GREAT thing! What I’m revealing here is pretty private but I think it’s important for you to know.
As usual I started the year (2010) with a goal of taking off weight. Does this ring any bells with you?
However, as usual, it got derailed fairly quickly. In fact, it was derailed even before the year started.
How could that be? Well, last December (2009) I developed significant back pain that pretty much limited me from doing any exercise. That really was the pits. There was no way I could take off weight without exercise. And a lot of it. So right away I knew I was doomed. How’s that for setting my mind up for failure?
I have to discuss this story because it’s hit me with such force at work.
I sometimes live under a rock so this was complete news to me. However, there are two lessons in this:
1) Never Ever judge a book by its cover
2) Never give up
I can’t embed the video because of YouTube rules but here’s the link you should hop on over and watch this video.
This is about the woman in the UK’s “Britain’s Got Talent” version of American Idol.
Susan Boyle is 47 years old, unemployed (but a charity worker) and “never been kissed”.
Her dream has always been to be a professional singer.
People laughed (including the judges) when she just walked out on the stage on Britain’s Got Talent. There were snickers when she told them of her dream. I have to tell you that that really irritates me whenever I see it and I’ll go on more about that later.
But then she opened her mouth and let loose. This woman, after that one song, has changed her life forever and if people stop to think about it, she has changed others lives dramatically as well.
She said she was aware of their snickers but figured she just had to continue on with her dream.
This video brought tears to my eyes because she just went out and “she showed them” – all those who judge people by their looks. I get so disgusted with people who do that.
But she never gave up. And to all those people who were laughing at her and criticizing her I simply say “I haven’t seen you on CNN, Good Morning America, or Larry King Live.”
At work, several of the men I work with with were talking about it and every single time they mentioned it, they would say how “ugly” she was. I couldn’t take it any more and when one of them said “she’s so ugly” I butted in (we do that in our office) and said “have you looked in the mirror lately”.
Why do people have to do that? Why can’t they accept people for what they are. As Susan said “that’s just one side of me”.
She never gave up. Take heart in both these lessons and continue to cheer her on.
Terrie
I wanted to write a quick note to all of you before I leave to spend Christmas with my brother and his wonderful wife – another year reunited is certainly cherished by me.
This will be a hectic week for all of you. I encourage you to take personal time and reflect on 2007. Hopefully you will start by listing your “gratitudes” and if you haven’t done so already, I hope you will download the Gratitude Journal and begin using it daily or at least weekly so you can remember all the wonderful things that have happened to you.
In addition, most people try to decide what the coming year will bring. One way to get started with that is to do a Burning Bowl. Listen to the audio and it will help guide you. Or, you can listen to both the Burning Bowl and The Goal Setting Teleseminar from one page.
Enjoy. I gotta go..my cab is here
Terrie