I saw a great text message this morning concerning goals and objectives this year.
It simply read “You better work like you’ve accomplished nothing.”
Blow landed. Direct hit. The truthfulness of the message hit me as if you just sunk my battleship.
That’s the great thing about a new year, the old year is gone. The results of the previous year are in the books. I saw a Facebook post this weekend from my friend Scotty Cox which read “New Year’s Eve is like opening day for my life.” How true. Everyone gets a new start and previous results can be stored away and the scoreboard re-set to zero.
There used to be a great saying in the sales department of one of my former companies. When a sales rep would come around talking about a previous big deal they landed, everyone would just smile and ask “Are you still carrying that dead mouse around?”.
In 2012, I plan to work like I’ve accomplished nothing. This previous week, I just re-took all my previous assessments to gauge where I am in my leadership skills and behavior levels. I re-assessed where I am in the major areas of my goal portfolio. Side note: Your goal portfolio should be akin to your stock portfolio, not too weighted in one particular area. If all your goals are financial, you might consider adding a health or family.
Let go of 2011, put it in the books, close the door on it.
Don’t worry if you haven’t finished your goal setting process yet. It’s all a work in progress, hopefully, you have at least one ready to go you can start on this week.
Remember, quality over quantity. Make sure you’ve reviewed them in such a way you can own them. You can have total personal responsibility for the result you want to achieve. Part of the purpose of having goals is for what the process will transform you into. Launch yourself into transition, face the pain of the unknown but above all remember if you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you.