What is the point of making new year’s resolutions, intentions, or ambitions for you?

Are they to achieve something important? To acquire new accolades? Or simply to gain material things that add to the joy of life?

As an avid goal setter for 10 years now (…in fact, the date of my first entry in the notebook where I write my goals is January 2, 2002. Exactly ten years ago), I’ve set my share of grand ambitions and planned for smaller pleasures.

I’ve covered the range from traveling to far away places, experiencing some of the world’s most fascinating events, and learning new skills to advance my career, health, finances and relationships.

When I look back on my list, there is a strong theme of ‘accomplishment’. I wanted to accomplish things and experience stuff and by-and-large, I did just that.

Yet along my journey my perspective has changed.

I’m in a much different place in my life now than I was ten years ago, let alone 3 years ago when I was a marketing career man working 50-60hrs a week while trying to do it all. However, I’m still as ambitious as ever and my list of goals continues to grow.

But I’ve realised there is a more important purpose to my plans.

I believe there is a very important ingredient to successfully achieving your dreams that is usually forgotten and often unknown. And that is this:

We don’t set goals for what they give us, we set goals in order to become the person we need to become in order to live the life that we want.

You might want to read that statement again.

Who do you need to become this year to achieve your goals?

• A person of stronger faith and conviction for what you believe in?
• A person of deeper courage to face your challenges and succeed?
• A person with a bigger purpose and daily motivation to blast through any setbacks and barriers?
• A person that inspires others to raise their standards?
• A leader by example and a person of your word?

For all of your exciting or scary plans for the year ahead, I encourage you to add this dimension to your plan of attack.

If you haven’t written down your goals for 2012 yet, then do so this week.

And along side those goals, try to identify who you would need to become in order for that to become a reality. What part of your inborn courage, strength, love, compassion, resiliency, enthusiasm, creativity and ambition needs to shine? What elements of your personality need to drive your decisions and actions? What inside of you needs to determine your daily behaviour?

Who will you become in 2012?

Leave us a comment and share how you would like to grow this year. How can we help you?

So, instead of purgatory, why not go for what you LOVE instead? Paul and Gina discuss the fine art of creation… and the 3 fundamental aspects of creativity: germination, assimilation and creation.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! HAPPY CREATING WHAT YOU LOVE

If we think of each year of our lives as a chapter, and look back at the last couple, there’s probably an underlying theme or sense of what that year meant to us in the overall scheme of our lives. For the last couple of years, I’ve set conscious intentions for my chapters and they’ve worked for me in a way that resolutions never really have.

2008 was a year of intention to find out what kind of lifestyle I wanted and where I wanted to live, as well as to reconnect with nature.

2009 was a year of intention to both allow myself to ‘put down roots’ (create stability) and also to utilise the many resources I had on hand (rather than trying to acquire new ones).

These intentions once set, influenced my available options, my decisions and my attitudes for the year that followed in both subtle and deeply meaningful ways. I could not have imagined half the things that have occurred in those two years, yet I feel like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be. There is something magical in choosing a theme for the year, and claiming it as your own – yet at the same time relaxing with it, and trusting that it will manifest when it is ready.

I can’t say that I didn’t occasionally try to force these themes, or to become impatient with the apparent lack of speed of their solutions. However, I was able to remind myself that they were always sitting in the background and percolating in my mind, and that it was the journey of the year that I’d remember rather than a single moment.

How did I come to decide upon these intentions? I guess it was a combination of honestly appraising my life, noticing the things that seemed to pop up repeatedly calling for my attention, and then deciding which was the highest priority. That might sound a bit complicated, but it was very much driven by intuition or gut instinct, and once the decision was made – it felt like the obvious choice.

My intentionality for 2010 is to surrender up to God, the Universe, Spirit – or GUS as a good friend calls it! – everything that I am struggling with or trying to control; everything that seems petty, or that feels so much bigger than me. To take action with the belief that what is meant to be will be, that I have everything I need right now, and that faith and intuition will lead me to synchronicity.

I may need some help with this! Gentle reminders appreciated!

And I’d love to hear about your intentions for the 2010 you want to have.

1. What is the one sore spot you’ve been struggling with for a while?
2. What lesson seems to keep popping back up, whose message you’ve not quite heeded yet?
3. What one thing, if it was achieved, would make 2010 shine for you when you are looking back on it?

Happy New Year to all our listeners – I, and each of the ActionPodcast coaches, look forward to sharing 2010 with you!

How is it that millions of people want something that is important to them, is absolutely possible to achieve, will provide tremendous benefits and rewards, yet they fail so miserably at getting what they want?

Here are three key reasons why New Year’s resolutions don’t work:

1) Most resolutions are made in response to something negative. Lose weight, get out of debt, stop smoking. They are based on a habit or situation someone wants to change or end. While these are valid things to change, it’s really hard to build momentum by ending something negative. It requires focus on something you don’t want.

2) Most people don’t understand what it takes to truly create lasting change or results. Resolutions and goal are just words, but results require action – and usually consistent and massive action. Most people want something big to change yet don’t get crystal clear on what action will be required, what new information or knowledge they need, what new skills they need or what old habits must be broken that will hold them back. Trying harder is never the solution, trying different is.

3) Most people don’t establish the right environment of support for the goal. After bolding claiming to themselves and their friends what they will do, most people try (or suffer) in private to make the change. Combined with points 1 and 2 above, without effective influence, support, collaboration it can be a daunting challenge that can quickly lose momentum.

2010 doesn’t have to be this way for you. Here’s a quick solution for your resolutions:

1) Describe a compelling outcome you really want. Rather than losing 20 lbs, turn it to the positive: I want to be a vibrant and healthy 120lbs so I can play with my children for hours, wear that slinky dress and have more energy to give to my partner.

2) Write down exactly WHAT you want, and describe in detail WHY that is important. When you get really connected to the WHY, that’s when the energy, enthusiasm and excitement builds. Then detail the HOW, the specific steps and actions you need to take. Complete it with a measurable timeframe. Most importantly, review your top goals daily, and all goals monthly to keep you on track.

3) Create an empowering environment around you. Supportive friends, daily reminders posted on your wall or mirror, throw away all junk food, de-clutter your home to give you more focus. If those goals are really compelling, you will do whatever it takes to ensure you make consistent progress towards your goals.

If you’re not already subscribed to Action Podcast, you can do so on the right side of this page. You’ll receive weekly inspiration, insights and motivation to keep you going from four experienced coaches. That’s another way to keep you on track, on purpose and energized throughout the entire process.

Best wishes for a successful and rewarding 2010!

During the Festive Season, it can be easy to focus on what you are not happy with or what you *still* haven’t done, and even easier to forget about the progress you really have made in 2008.

Exploring what you have achieved, the challenges you’ve overcome or the problems you’ve solved can really give you a strong foundation for setting your Intentions for 2009!

Join us to discover just how and what you could be celebrating this year and next (without the hangovers)!

It is one thing to actively explore, set & commit to things that you would like to be, do or have during the next twelve months (even tweaking them as you go along), and another entirely to rely on only one day of the year (usually the day following a very hard night!) to kick-start your focus on what you want to achieve in the next 12 months.

If you are someone who achieves the Resolutions you set – then I’d really like to acknowledge you! For those of us who find our Resolutions becoming pipedreams, or those of us who’ve given up on setting them at all (it saves disappointment!), perhaps a slight shift in focus would help shore up our successes in the next year…

WHAT HAVE YOU ACHIEVED IN 2008?

Was this year what you expected/wanted/hoped it would be?

Being very specific with your intentions for the New Year, having a way to measure them, making sure they are appealing to you whilst being realistic, setting a deadline for them, breaking them into small chunks AND writing them down, may get you further with your Resolutions than spontaneous outbursts or tipsy boasts; and wouldn’t it be even better if you knew you were starting off on your 2009 plans from really solid footing?

With or without set goals, life doesn’t often show up in the way we expect it to. You may not have achieved the things you thought you would this year, or you may have wanted it to be looking different than it is, yet I’d be willing to bet that you’ve had a lot more success than you can list out at first!

What problems did you solve this year? What changes have you made? Which areas of your life have improved? Which challenges that had you stumped were overcome or worked around? If you feel like something is not great – in what ways was it worse last year? What have you learnt? What do you know you want to do better?

By asking ourselves some of these questions, we can begin to see that actually this last year has been pretty remarkable in its own ways! And if there are areas that you are really unhappy with – ask yourself whether you’d set strong intentions for them at the start of this year, or whether your focus was elsewhere?

By allowing ourselves to acknowledge what we have really achieved this year, we find positive proof that we can and have succeeded in some areas and ways. Starting the New Year after celebrating our successes (however small or large), really adds a boost of motivation and energy to the areas we want to focus on this year.

Still feeling like you didn’t achieve anything at all? Then maybe 2008 was the year to prepare you for the life-changing decision that you want 2009 to be a completely new and different experience for you!

Whether you have a specific memory from a young age, or even just a sense of ‘learning’ that selfishness was an inherently bad thing – it seems intrinsic to our moral education as human beings; and so when it comes time to start thinking about what we want our next year to be like, there is often an accompanying sense of guilt that holds us back from being truthful with ourselves about our goals.

What does Selfishness mean to you? What words, thoughts or emotions does it conjure up? We are all likely to have personal experiences of being exposed to or accused of ‘selfish’ acts and thoughts (even judging ourselves or our desires in this way!) – yet we don’t seem to stop and ask: What exactly is selfish about wanting the best for ourselves?

By definition, Selfishness is the existence of two conditions:

1. Concern primarily for one’s own welfare, benefit or interests; AND
2. That this occurs regardless of, or with disregard for, others.

Does your personal understanding of Selfishness include both points 1) AND 2) above? The Myth of Selfishness suggests that somewhere along the way, either through misunderstanding, or incomplete ‘examples’ to learn by, Selfishness has subconsciously become interpreted as point 1) alone. That is, without awareness, we have developed beliefs that concern for our own welfare – what is best for us individually – is a bad thing!!!

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ME IF I LIVE WITH THE MYTH OF SELFISHNESS?

The consequences you accept by choosing to live with this myth may be subtle or dramatic – either way, they are far-reaching. For some, an unspoken fear or tension may be felt every time they think about doing something that they know would be good for themselves; for others, it may be a lifelong dream continually swept under the rug with a mountain of excuses; feelings of unworthiness or guilt when considering what they want; or an inability to follow through and take action on a prioritised goal or decision.

How do those impacts sound? Do any ring true for you when you think about what you want 2009 to be like? The scary thing is that living with this Myth has an even deeper consequence. When you deny yourself something – a relationship, a career, a resource, a choice, or anything you believe would be best for you – you may be preventing yourself from being truly happy. Chances are, you are being inauthentic with yourself, and here’s the irony: when you are inauthentic with yourself you are also inauthentic with others. With everyone, in every relationship you share.

If you are not being your best self, if you are not looking after yourself, how can you possibly help/love/be honest with those you care about most? By not questioning the Myth of Selfishness and its role in our own lives, we are unconsciously acting out exactly what we don’t want!

When you choose to be authentic and to make decisions based on what is best for you, those decisions can still be made with true consideration and regard for others.

WILL YOU LET THIS MYTH HOLD YOU BACK IN 2009?

(© Seraphima Coaching 2007-2008, www.seraphima.com, adapted from an L3 Message Extract: May’07)