Skydiving, Magic Wands, and Your 2018 Goals

Lose weight.

Earn more money.

Get organized.

Look familiar? They may, as they comprise three of the most common New Year’s resolutions year after year. They’re also quite boring in my opinion, but more on that in a moment.

Years ago, someone told me that the best time to create your goals is right when you’ve landed from a skydiving jump – you’re in such an “I can do ANYTHING!” mood that you infuse your goals with energy, excitement, and expansion. Having jumped out of an airplane myself, I can attest to this! I now wish I’d had a notebook with me during my skydiving adventure. 🙂

But even if you don’t have plans to leap from a plane before the new year, you can take other steps to create exciting, colorful goals. Below are five tips I incorporate into every goal-setting experience.

The success rate with New Year’s resolutions tends to be extremely low, and I think I know the reason: We typically set them – and often, our goals in general – from a place of lack. You might look at what you haven’t succeeded at yet, or where you messed up and vow to do differently.

I challenge you to start from the opposite perspective. Make a big list of your wins – both planned and unexpected. Include everything you can think of: The completed work project that required every ounce of creativity you, the family trip you took, the houseplants you kept alive.

Celebrate those wins before you take one more action.

From this place of success and abundance, begin brainstorming what you’d love to create in the coming year. I suggest creating a Breakthrough Map for this purpose, exploring various areas of your career, family, health, finances, and so on.

As you generate ideas, do so as if time, money, courage, and energy are in abundant supply – like I am waving a magic wand over your year. Focus on what you’d like to see, not how. The how comes later.

I’m often asked how many goals I set each year. The answer: I typically set three Bold Goals, along with various other smaller projects and goals. You can learn details about how I do this via my Big Dreams, Bold Goals workshops, or in the ASPIRE Bold Goal training next January if you decide to join us.

This may sound weird at first, but there is powerful neuroscience behind this. If you state your goals in the “I will” or “I’m going to” format, you are always in ‘chase mode’ – there will always be some dissonance between you and the goal. If you phrase it as though it’s already here, you’ll bridge that gap and can focus on the next right action.

In a nutshell, make sure your goals move you toward something positive, not away from something negative. Pay attention to your language and word selection. This subtle shift will do wonders for your mindset. (Watch for an upcoming blog for more detail around this.)

When you see yourself at the end of next year, celebrating your success, how does it feel? Did getting your research published boost your confidence? Did successfully leading your team through the transition fill you with energy? Identify the specific feeling connected to your goal – then ask yourself, “How can I start feeling that today?”

Goal-setting – life itself – is not an if/then endeavor: If I achieve the goal, then I can enjoy the feeling. Your mindset is powerful and you can choose your experience. Practice this! It will actually ease the pathway to your goal success.

I always end my goals with the phrase “This or something better” to make room for awesomeness that I can’t even imagine yet. This allows me to consistently move toward my goals but without the tunnel vision that might keep me from unexpected learnings and interesting detours.

Which of these tips speaks to you? Have you found others that support your goal achievement? Feel free to share below or on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.