'Get over yourself '!

I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it.

It’s the end of year - Yaaaaay! January seemed only like yesterday and I’m thankful the year has come to an end. Not everyone is happy, because they think the year hasn’t been so good to them or they didn’t seem to achieve much during the year, but I always say ‘give thanks in all things not for everything, but in all things.

Sometimes you don’t know how grateful you should be until you go through some difficult situations and come out victorious or see others that went through similar situations and didn’t quite make it through.

Anyway, the New Year is upon us whether we like it or not; for some it’s another brand new lease of 12 months to take a stab at life and for others an opportunity to re-write some mistakes made. Whichever way it’s a New Year, a brand new chance for taking a stab at life.

So, if you are feeling sad and sorry that the past 12 months didn’t go too well for you, well don’t!

You don’t need to feel sorry for yourself or throw a pity party. You need to have a plan, if not you will keep looking back. If you are trying to get over your past or bad memories are still playing in your mind, you are asking yourself, how do I get over the memories?

Well I have a suggestion, ‘fight fear with a plan’.

Have you heard the saying ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’? This is true! Every successful person you see got there because they had a plan. Sometimes you need a plan to get up in the morning. Naturally, I want to sleep all day or laze around and do nothing demanding. However, I realised very early on that lazing around doesn’t put food on the table so I needed to do something and get my focus on something productive to my future rather than your focusing on my past.

Mary Kay, the popular privately owned American direct sales company that sells cosmetics in 2011 was estimated to have net sales worth $2.9 billion. When interviewed on the secret of her success, she said ‘I write down the 6 most important things each day and then I do them’. Wow! Look how successful she became.

Before you look at specific areas that are important to you, you may want to consider for a bit how your plans for the coming year should work?

Having a plan is like setting long term and short term goals for your life. So consider these:

Make sure your goals are in writing

No matter how big or small. Goals not written down are just wishes. It’s been proven that people who write down their goals earn 9 times as much as those who don’t.

Make sure your goals are measurable 

There is a great difference between saying, ‘I really want to lose some weight’ versus ‘I will lose 10 pounds by March 1^st’. If your goals are not measurable, you won’t have a way of knowing how well or bad you are doing in pursuit of your goals.

 Make sure you Goals are realistic  

If they are unrealistic, you are setting yourself up for defeat. I cannot tell you how many people I have seen, (myself included) that have set unrealistic goals. For example, someone might say ‘I want to spend 3 hours with the Lord’, now if you are struggling to even have a prayer life, maybe start with 10 minutes when you wake up, once you’ve done that consistently for about a week, you can move to 30 minutes. So your ideal may be 3 hours, why not break it up into manageable chunks until you reach your goal?

Make sure your goals must have a deadline 

It’s amazing how a deadline gives you a sense of urgency. Deadlines motivate you. Remember when you were sent on errand when you were younger and you would race your brother or sister to see how fast you will get back or get it done before a certain time? Wasn’t it amazing you finished quickly, well that’s the power of deadlines. They say the most productive day of the year is the day before vacation. So, have a deadline creates a sense of urgency and keeps you motivated.

That’s it for now, I’ll be back with more ways to prepare for the New Year; make sure you remember these things before you even start setting goals.

Reference: Habakkuk 2:2, Luke 14:28