I hope your holidays were safe, fun, and everything you were hoping for and more. Now that they are over, it’s time to get back to work.
A new year is a great time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’d like to go in the coming new year.
Resolution vs Goals
The idea behind making resolutions is great. When people resolve to make a change in their lives they have noticed a behavior or part of their lifestyle is less than they desire and “resolve” to do better. Having said that, the average life span of a health or fitness resolution is 6-8 weeks. That’s right. More than 70% of people quit within the first 8 weeks. The numbers only get bleaker after that.
Goals are like resolutions except with a plan of action behind them, and so are much more effective. Stating goals and periodically checking in and assessing the results keeps us moving on the desired path. Often, the goals that we started with will change based on new life circumstances that make the previously stated goals obsolete.
Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to map out a process for setting and achieving goals that has been very successful in the past, both personally and for my clients, and is applicable to almost any goal.
When talking with Ben about setting goals for the coming year, it seemed appropriate to break it down into quarters. However, rather than follow the calendar year, we decided that setting goals based on seasonal changes made more sense for the Training Tiger Woods program.
The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, was on December 22nd this year. That was the actual day that our off-season started.
During the first quarter of this new season our collective and individual goals should reflect the energetic changes that the winter solstice dictates. Quite often, this is much harder than it sounds. What we’re doing here is very exciting and working on it is FUN. Ben and I enjoy the work and the camaraderie that we have created with this project. While slowing things down may seem counter-intuitive on the surface, following the energetic pattern dictated by the solstice will help us maintain balance as the energy demands of the coming year become greater.
Next week, I will share the specific goals that I have set for the coming quarter.
I challenge each and every one of you to take some time and set your own goals for the coming quarter. Whether or not they are golf-related doesn’t matter. Think about the energy that accompanies the winter solstice and set some goals for yourself.