19 Questions to Give You Better Balance with Your Goals

The new year means reinvention, a call to action for new dreams and a victory for surviving the year that just passed. It gives permission to leave behind the things that have been weighing you down. And at midnight – poof! You get an entirely NEW YEAR all over again.

New Year’s Eve is my favorite holiday. I can almost feel the bustle of people making sure they get off work early, as if they have an important guest to meet. The new year is a gift to me; a chance to re-set, like the “start over” button in a game; like a clean page in a notebook, ripe for creativity, commitment and change;  like a quiet graduation from one phase to the next.

 

This is a rich and critical time to establish your goals. Here are some questions to consider:

1.     What is the one thing you can do to develop a closer relationship with God?

2.     What are 3 habits you want to develop next year

3.     What is one quality you want to develop next year

4.     What is one skill you need to improve next year

5.     What is a quote or short phrase that will be most useful to you?

6.     What is the one habit you need to drop

7.     Name one distraction you must guard against 

8.     What are the 3 most important goals?

9.     What are 3 things you want to indulge in?

10.  What is one class you'd like to take?

11.   What were the 3 things that were unexpected in 2012?

12.  What are 5 things that worked for you in last year?

Here are additional questions to help you stay on track with your goals:

13. What one thing, if you accomplished it next year, would make the most difference in all your other goals? 
14. In the areas of work, family, community and health, what will you contribute?
15. What is imperative that you complete? 
16. What are you negotiable on? 
17. What have you abandoned? 
18. Who is going to be counting on you?
19.  Who are you relying on?

I hope you enjoy the beauty and challenge of new beginnings. There is a wonderful sense of excitement when we unwrap the gift of second chances. 

Your Goals: Why Goodbye is Good!

Good-bye is usually a word we use when we leave a place or when ending a conversation. In goal setting, we also use good-bye and apply it in a way that moves us away from what we don’t want, what we’re leaving behind. Good-bye brings us closer to our desired outcomes. This goal setting article helps you take inventory of what is actually on its way OUT of your life.

WHY GOOD-BYE IS GOOD
Goal setting is closely related to having and being NEW or MORE or DIFFERENT things in our lifestyle. The other side of goal setting involves a selective and purposeful act of DISCONTINUING behavioral and psychological systems that don’t contribute to our momentum and growth.

We actively choose to leave those things behind, in full awareness, and acknowledge that we are bidding farewell to these old situations. At the same time, the process of a personalized good-bye provides us the closure and transition we need to start new conversations of betterment.

In the course of improvement, we may already be tracking our goals, waking up early, reading the motivational books, listening to the development CD’s, associating with goal-oriented people. I invite you to take a moment and review what areas in your life could benefit from a swift and definite farewell. Here is how you use it:

Look at your goals. Is it losing weight, starting your business, making more money, improving your relationships? If you have it written down, read it over. If you visualize it, see it again.

Review the end result in extreme detail. Now, complete these sentences for yourself:

To get to this goal, I abandoned the following habits:
To get to this goal, I avoided the following situations:
To get to this goal, I controlled the following relationships:
To get to this goal, I stopped saying the following things to myself:
To get to this goal, I sold or donated the following items:
…I stopped buying the following items:
…I stopped visiting the following places:
…I moved away from the following environments:
…I ceased from using the following phrases:
…I let go of the following memories:
…I surrendered the following beliefs:
…I forgave the following people:
…I relieved my life of the following stresses:
…I eliminated the following tasks:
…I sacrificed the following conveniences:
…I eluded the following consequences:

We need to frequently focus on what we want. However, preparation for the next level in our lives also requires that we readily identify what we DON’T WANT, what we are choosing to leave behind, labeling what we will no longer confront. I encourage you to celebrate that. Look at the things and situations that won’t burden you anymore. Celebrate it by saying good-bye!

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are past away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17