I have a confession to make. I didn’t make any New Year’s resoultions this year. Not one. Why? I don’t think they work. Not in that form anyway. Most of the resolutions I have ever heard have been wishes with little substance. I used to make them. I have since quit.
Goals are a different animal all together. Setting a goal is making a plan. Setting goals involves making sure that the plan has steps and ways to identify progress. Goals have a beginning and an end and are measurable. They may stretch you in ways you have never been stretched and lead you further than you expected to go, but you planned on getting there in the first place.
I sat down before 2010 ended and thought about what I wanted to accomplish in 2011. There are quite a few things on this list. Some left over from last year, but not too many. I have my eyes set on accomplishing some big things this year. Big to me, anyway.
I will share three of these goals with you today. The first involves my blog.
Goal 1 – I will work on developing my personal brand (as Gary Vaynerchuk calls it in Crush It) To do this, I will blog 2-3 times per week for 2011 and devote myself to learning how, through social media, to be a contributing voice in the conversations that are already taking place.
Goal 2 – I will finish writing the manuscript for my book My Three Foot Teacher and self publish it through Create Space. (This is a book about the lessons my two year old son has taught me about God.)
Goal 3 – Run the Memorial Marathon in Oklahoma City on May 1. I ran the half marathon last year and will complete the full thing in May. I have no time goal, per se, but will run the majority of it. Finishing is the goal.
Each one of the three listed above are measurable. I can make notes of my progress every day and then look back and see how far I have come. As I stated in my last post, I intend to give this year my very best. There is much to be done. I am eager to see these goals above accomplished, as well as the others I have not shared.
What goals do you have for 2011? What needs to be done that only you can do? Forget the resolutions. Make a goal. Make a plan. Get it done. Give it your best. Let’s see where we end up at the year’s end.
David Willis 