Life is busy, if we are not careful we end up being so busy that we get nothing finished…at least nothing important.
I’ve always been very conscious of the incideous way time can leap ahead and erase hope, health and happiness – outside of death and taxes, there is nothing more certain than the fact that time WILL continue to tick away.
The question then is will you use the time you have to improve your health, finances and happiness or will you continue to “go along for the ride” full-well knowing that someday (it could be tomorrow or it could be 40-years from now) you will look back and wish you had better used your time.Â
WHY DOING NOTHING IS SO HARMFUL!
Frustration, guilt, procrastination and regret are the enemies of proactivity, health, happiness and the natural state our mind and body expects to operate.Â
Yet my guess is that your life so far has tended to fall into the “regret and procrastination” category more than proactivity and success.Â
That’s why you should not let another day go by in 2012 without tackling this head-on!
Believe it or not, you can lose your entire year in just the first few weeks of 2012, unless you take action RIGHT now.
Think about it, you get into the middle of January and suddenly you get super-busy with your job, family functions and just surviving the winter.Â
February is a short month, taxes and paying bills become the priority
March-June is Spring, while Springtime is wonderful, it does give you a false sense that everything is ok as you enjoy the season not noticing how little progress you make toward your goals until the summer hits.
July-September bring new challenges, vacation and slow season. Many people reason that if this is slow season, I’ll wait until the Fall to really ratchet up my activity, so why not sit back and enjoy the summer months?
October-December – while you may have your best intentions here, this is generally where everyone wants your time:Â job/work is busy, your family wants more of you, it’s crunch time at work, your own stress level increases dramatically as you near the Holiday Season and realize you have wasted another year.Â
What is the best way to make SURE you do not waste 2012?Â
MAKE 2012 YOUR YEAR…OR ELSE YOU WILL LOSE GROUND!
Make it your #1 priority in this first week of January to…
- Know what you really want. Where you want to be in 3-5 years, your dreams, your goals, how you want your life to look
- Develop a plan on how you will get there. This plan should be broad at first (say by Quarter of the year) and then, as a second step, more detailed down to the week and even day
- Develop a daily routine that involves both reviewing your goals, finding time to spend on your action steps and for improving the people that are around you to include a few more that will help you achieve your goals. Don’t worry if right now you can only find 20-minutes or 30-minutes each day, that’s ok. The important thing is to have a plan for that 30-minutes so you get maximum advantage of the time you do have.Â
- Set key milestones – objectives or gates where you need to be to track your course
- Life goals – remember that achievement in one area of your life is tough to reach if you don’t have balance in other aspects of your life. If you have health issues, you need to have goals to improve your health, if you are in a mountain of debt – then face that fact and have a plan to deal with your debt…etc
- Be flexible enough to alter your plan. No result is reached 100% according to plan, so you will need to be open to seeing alternative paths, rebounding from setbacks and even re-aligning your plans as you go…but the key is that you always do have an active plan you are working toward
Please, whatever you do at this crucial point in the year, do NOT overlook the importance of planning your 2012 otherwise you will find yourself 1-year from now having lost an entire 365-days.Â
Oh yes, and remember this, if you are not making progress you are losing ground. It may seem like treading water is possible but it isn’t. If you are not making progress toward your goal then you WILL be WORSE off next year at this time than you are now. There is no middle ground. So which will it be?
