Spring Cleaning.... Shaking the cobwebs off my goals

Okay so I know its only January, but in AZ if feels like spring and my thoughts have turned to spring cleaning.  It is a great time of year to kick out all the crap in my life and make sure that my activities are getting me where I want to go.  In September, I wrote down my goals for the next year. I had 10 of them.  I have been carrying a laminated card with my handwritten goals scrawled out on it.  The intent was to read them every morning and night... I am not doing so great at that part but I am carrying them with me wherever I go.

This simple act of carrying them with me is enough to be a constant nag in my back pocket to stick to activities that are going to bring me closer to what I really want in life.  But sometimes life's little activites creep into your life and get your priorities slightly out of sync.  For example, I have been so busy with a campaign and brainstorming at work that I have let my work creep into my evening hours and bump out priorities that are important to me.  

Time to dejunk:  For one thing, I have convinced myself that I am too busy to cook my own food and that eating out is the logical choice to being more productive.  But that is counter to anotheer of my goals to be more healthy and lose weight.  

I once had a mentor that told me that he planned out his business day each morning by asking himself, "What is the activity that stands to make me the most money in the long run?"  And that is the activity that he does first even if it is the least favorite one.  Such a question is appropriate with any goal.  What is the number one activity you need to do today to bring you closer to your goals?

Story Telling

Everyone is a story teller...  I am not talking about the kind that captivates an audience or calls children to the storybook corner of the classroom.  Rather we tell stories to ourselves all day long.  This concept is not a new one but I have read several books lately that have shed some interesting light on the subject (if you are interested the books are "Crucial Conversations" and "Leadership and Self Deception").  

The idea is that we take in information, tell ourselves a story, and that story triggers emotions within us.  For example: one day when I was in SLC I went country dancing one night.  A slow song came on and the guys started rushing to ask the girls of their choice.  I wasn't super excited about anyone so I just kind of hung back.  I saw these two girls who were chatting.  One of them got asked to dance leaving the other stranded by herself.  She seemed like a nice girl but from the looks of it probaby didn't get asked to dance a whole lot.  The way she acted led me to believe that she would be delighted for me to ask her.  I actually had the audacity to think that I was doing her a favor by asking her to dance!

I strolled up to her and asked her if she would like to dance.... she looked at me for a second and then shook her head and said NO!!! ha ha I was floored..."Seriously?" I asked.  "Seriously," She responded.  I actually started clapping my hands and laughing as I walked away.

But here is the moral of the story.  I took in fact (she was standing alone, semi attractive, and shy). I told myself a story (she must be shy and probably doesnt get asked to dance and therefore would be thrilled to dance with me).  And then, because of the story I began to feel like I was charitable or kind or altruistic.  The point is.. that my story affected how I felt.  But boy was I wrong!!!!

Being aware of the stories you are telling yourself is half the battle of being able to challenge your own stories and make sure you act appropriately.  The greatest communication skill is the ability to see things from another's perspective.

Does anyone else have any experiences where they told themselves a story and felt one way. Only to find out that the story they told themselves was totally wrong?  

My One-Word Pursuit for 2009

Today, along with billions of other people (think about that... BILLIONS!!!! that is a lot) are thinking about new years resolutions or making changes in our lives for the better. Think of the collective "good intentions" of billions of people!  And yet, most new years resolutions don't get written down, don't have determined committment, and probably will go unfulfilled this year.  

For more information about goal setting and it's importance please see my post blow called "Goal Setting... The Expirment."  

This year my goal is DILIGENCE.  Think about that for a minute..... diligence is defined by www.dictionary.com as

"constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind."

Most goals, I would venture to guess, go unfulfilled because of a lack of committment or diligence in acheiving them.  Diligence is not a mundane word for routine... it is a passionate word implying dogged determination and constant effort to make right choices.  

One of my mentors introduced me to the graphic at the beginning of this post.  This horizontal "Y" shape represents a choice.  Each day is a journey of choices and every little choice determines whether we are getting closer or further away from achieving our goals.  For example, lets say your goal is to lose weight... your first choice in the morning may be between hitting the snooze bar one more time for 9 more minutes of relaxation and getting up to work out.  If you get out of bed then you progress and get closer to the goal.  Your second choice could be a fatty McGriddle sandwich or a bowl of bran cereal for breakfast.  Assuming you chose to get up and work out but then chose to go to the Golden Arches for breakfast you have lost the ground you made this morning and digressed to be in the same situation in which you started the day.

Greatness often comes through diligent, passionate, and constant decision making!  Who want's to live thier own personal "Groundhog Day" with the same results over and over.  No matter what your goals are, make sure that you really want to achieve them.... If you ardently desire to achieve them then apply passionate decisionmaking every day to make sure you have made more productive decisions than unproductive ones.  In this game... Numbers Matter!

I am blown away at how few people, who say they want more out of life, don't put in a diligent or constant effort to attain it.  What goals do you have?  What daily decisions are you going to have to make to achieve your success?  Do you want to make more money?  How about the classic decision to surf the web a few extra minutes each day or use those minutes to make more another sales call.

I would love to hear any thoughts you have on this idea.  Also what other ways of looking at diligence do you have?  Please share them if you have them.