Looking back on 2018, can you recall any goals that you may have brought to the starting line, committed to for a while, then for some reason or another those goals fizzled away or fell by the wayside?
I want you to think of something that you started and perhaps did not continue. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Did it serve my purpose for the while?
- Did I learn from it?
- Did I enjoy the process while I was committed to it?
- Did those goals need to be of top priority all year?
- Did they do their time and perhaps opened things up for bigger and or better things or priorities?
- Did I get, even just a bit, closer to my intention with that goal?
Sometimes goals need to shift or be put aside for all sorts of reasons; we may realize that the originally chosen path doesn’t really align with our purpose or perhaps the timing is just not right for us at this particular time in our life. What ever the reason, I am going to encourage you to take a moment to look back at 2018. Can you celebrate what you accomplished rather than criticize yourself for what you may traditionally have consider a shortcoming?
Before you start to plan your 2019 goals can you go back and look at your 2018 goals and give some thought to the following?
- What was the intention behind my goals?
- Was the way that I set out to get there the right way for me at this stage in my life?
- If those goals (that I let slide) are still important to me, can Iapproach them differently this year?
- Can I perhaps ask for help to reach those goals?
Ooooo that last point was a really tough one for me in the past. Ask for help? really? Aren’t I supposed to be able to figure things out on my own? Ugh… asking can be hard but all too often it can be the best thing ever.
I love the following saying by Einstein. It goes something like: You can’t solve your problem by using the same level of thinking that you used when the problem was created”
My point for this post is that I am encouraging you (and I) to shift your/our mind-set around how we think of our accomplishments, even those that don’t get to the finish line. Perhaps they were not supposed to get to the finish line. Perhaps they were there to pass the baton on to the next goal in order to reach that line.
Go ahead and celebrate even the smallest steps so that you can enjoy the journey on the way to the destination.