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Tag: goal setting

Pick your word

It’s been a heck of a year and with a few days left, I want to share a ritual of mine: Choose a word, a theme you’d like to set for for the year to come. (This year my word was “Courage,” and boy, did I need it.) For 2021, I’m choosing “Joy.” I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to welcome more spark, more pleasure, more happiness, and more fun.

Tell me your word for the year to come @redheadlefthand.

Sending greetings and wishes for a restorative, healthy, and calm new year — a year filled with laughter, joy, and magic.

Bookmark your dreams

Many years ago, a coach gave me an assignment that changed my life.

Write down 50 – 100 things you’d like to do.

My original list contained almost 90 items, goals ranging from learning to tie a necktie to finishing a marathon. I revisit this list from time to time. It has served as a guidepost for sorting out impulse and helping me decide whether my choices are circumstantial or made with intention.

It’s impossible to forge ahead if you don’t have a direction. (I didn’t always know this.) When you focus your efforts, you’re much more likely to get it done.

Step 1: Make time

Mark your calendar and commit. Set aside one undisturbed hour in a space you feel comfortable.

Step 2: Write

While writing your list, let yourself play and dream. Don’t pause to question. Don’t edit. Just write.

Step 3: Bookmark

Place your list someplace safe so you can return to it and reassess whether these goals are where you’d like to concentrate your energy. It’s never “too late” to dream.

Modified from Dream Chasers, posted December 2012.

A different lens

So much of life and the way in which we interpret day-to-day interactions is a matter of perspective. Sometimes the best choice we can make is to take a step back and consider our current situation from a different lens.

How can you shift perspective?

Awareness

Set aside time each week to take stock and reflect on the changes you want to make and the goals you have yet to achieve. When we focus on overarching themes, challenges and daily decisions are set into their rightful place.

Evaluation

Where are you headed and are you walking in the right direction? Are you getting the results you want?

Honesty

Chores, calendar schedules, and to-do lists are great productivity tools, but they can just as easily serve as energy leaks, distracting from your most important goals.

Intention

Remind yourself what really matters. Change perspective when necessary. A different lens might help.

What are you listening to?

What record is playing in your head?

Have you written your own soundtrack? Or has someone compiled it for you?

The songs/tones/words you surround yourself with sets the tone for your life. If you’re not happy with what you’ve been hearing, make a new recording. Leave the prerecorded songs for someone else (unless they’re really THAT good).