Happy New Year! It is list time. It may not be the most meditative thing we do. But then again, it may be. I don’t have to remind you about the statistics: People who write down their goals for 2010 (and look at them once a month) are several times more likely to achieve them than people who don’t write them down. Those are not our statistics. They come from a serious university (Chicago).
This list which you do, also has a guide within it. If you achieve the goals you set for yourself (or most), you feel successful and great. But there is also a gift in this list if you keep failing to achieve anything (or just a few items). It may mean something very important:
1. You don’t really want those things you put on the list. You may put them down because you have an idealized (not a realistic) view of yourself.
2. Your goals are walking you down a road you should not be on. Deep down you know that these goals will not lead to your greater self.
3. And, the biggest of all: You are afraid to go for it, because it would change you too much. People around you would have to look at you differently. And, that is scary.
So here you go: Make 7-10 specific goals. (I shall be a gift to the world and love God more, is too vague – and it is not measurable). The more specific you make them, the more likely you are to achieve them.
They don’t all have to be too serious. One year, when my life was unbelievable busy, one of my goals were: Go down to the beach and enjoy one sunset each month.
I missed it by one. But if I had not written it down, I am sure I would not have enjoyed the journey of the setting sun for that year. It was the year I discovered that the winter-sun sets over the San Bruno Mountains – and the high summer-sun sets way up, near Mount Tamalpais. I became part of the rhythm of our nature that year.
