To plan to have your best year ever is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and others. No doubt. To stretch yourself towards a “Future You” is critically important for the sake of becoming whom you currently are not.

Statistics is varied, but all point to the fact that the vast majority of people choose not to continue with their game plan, and many do it before the end of the first month. In fact, Dan Diamond believes it’s only 8% of people who truly accomplish progress of this kind. (The research is HERE.)

How can it be different for you?

Here are five things to focus on in the next 30 Days to make the most of next year.

#1: Know your BEST intention

There is a saying in the faith world I live in that says, “They have a good heart.” I’m not a huge fan of that statement, but I get the point. SO much of interacting with one another is to believe the best about our intentions. Believing the best intention makes managing unresourceful behaviour so much easier. An unhelpful act with good intentions can be far more easily resolved than something that comes from an unhelpful place.

What is your BEST intention for the next 12 months? Write it down. Make it sharp, compelling and FEEL the change it creates in you. I “set my intention” for nearly everything I do. Leadership conversations, speaking and parenting; with what I am planning to achieve, it helps because it shifts my internal world.

#2: Expect Setbacks

It’s true. Life isn’t necessarily going to lie down and easily allow you to become everything you have on the list. It will take some discipline, some sacrifice and some persistence.

To expect setbacks doesn’t mean to ‘expect to fail.’ It means that when you choose to describe a “future you” you more than likely have to fight to make that happen. Jim Rohn said, “Life doesn’t just happen, life happens just.” You may have to make an effort to make a change. A setback isn’t a good enough reason to drop the whole game plan. Perhaps Yoda got it right when he said, “Do, or do not, there is no try.”
Life will challenge you to complete this. Time will be against you. Work will pile up around you. Your partner will expect things from you, and your kids won’t care.

Still do. It’s worth it.

#3: Keep your plan simple

Simplicity gives you focus. Simplicity gives you energy. Simplicity helps you feel like this is doable!

Simplicity means you have done the work to evaluate if this plan is what you REALLY want. Remove the clutter, remove the distractions and focus VERY specifically on the most important things for you to become. One definition of simplicity is “something easy to understand or explain.” There lies a clue. If you show your game to a friend and they don’t get it, you need to do more work.

It takes work to articulate something down to it’s irreducible minimum. When you have done that, it serves you in a compelling and energy giving way. To be able to declare where you plan to end up in a way that is simple and powerful, gives you that critical reference point to keep coming back to.

#4: Make your actions specific

The more specific the better.

The old I want to lose weight vs “When I meet myself I’m proud that I weigh 73Kg and have been eating a disciplined and healthy diet, exercising 3-4 times a week and enjoying the benefits of this.”

  • Specificity makes it clear whether you have accomplished it or not.
  • Specificity makes this easier to move towards.
  • Specificity serves simplicity.
  • Specificity forces you to evaluate progress.

#5: Do it in community

Life really IS better together. Community means having a small group of people who are committed to you and who you are committed to. A place you get served AND you get to serve. A place of accountability, truth, authenticity and vulnerability. A place where you can share wisdom, lessons and resources.

By community, I mean a tribe that you have a sense of connection and unity with. A group of people that will commit to you as much as you, will commit to them. People who want you to succeed and do well and are willing to hold you to this highest standard of accomplishment, even if you don’t like it at the time. Accountability is best experienced in community. A place of love, a place of acceptance and a place that believes the best is yet to come.

Make it real, make it clear, make it simple and make it specific. Then make it work. May you truly have your best year ever.

Question:

What’s your game plan for the next 30 days to make this work for you? I’d love you to share your thoughts.