It’s early in the year. You’re fired up right? I hope so, because it’s barely the end of week one!

You’ve probably been seeing articles all over the place about setting goals in 2016. Stomach one more? For me? Please…

Thanks! You’re too kind. Okay, chances are you’ve at least made an attempt at setting some goal for this year.

Maybe you’ve done some or even all of the following:

• Wrote out your goals in detail
• Wrote what you plan to do to achieve them
• Set deadlines
• Reviewing them regularly to keep them at the forefront of your mind
• Monitoring your progress and adjusting your goals as necessary due to unforeseen circumstances or new opportunities

 

If you’re doing those things, I applaud you. Keep it up!

However, there may be one thing that you are missing. Maybe two.

Did you review your successes from last year? The goals from the previous year that you wiped the floor with? Did you? Well, are you going to??? Answer me Johnny!

If you’re answer is yes, again, I applaud you further. But that’s not the number one detail I am talking about. And though that does begin to stroke the surface, it’s much more important.

Here it is for real: It’s the habits that you’ve built 

You know, the habits that helped you reach your goals from last year, and perhaps since you started setting goals.

Maybe a completed goal of yours was to get in shape physically. Either dropping a specific amount of weight or inches around your hula hoop. You did it and you feel great about it. And you should. Now go back and think about what you did to accomplish the goal. It didn’t just happen overnight. No way.

So then, was it good eating habits? The habit of getting up early to exercise each day? The habit of not eating within two hours before bed? Habits, habits, habits. These are what connect the dots between your initial act of writing down a goal and conquering it.

There’s more to habits than you think

There’s even more to it than that. Most good habits contribute to more than just the intended goal. Let’s use the example of getting up early. Initially it was to allow you to get exercising out of the way before the day starts, but think about it. What if by getting up earlier, it enabled you to accomplish more things related to other goals?

Perhaps another goal was to write a book? Bam! You did it. Excelente! That’s Spanish for excellent. What habits got you to that point? Did you create a ritual—another name for habit—such as writing for a set chunk of time every single day? By getting up early for that other thing, you were able to do this thing, too. Pretty neat, right?

Another example of good habit exploitation, and again, we’ll keep the same weight loss goal. Let’s take the habit of not eating within two hours before bedtime. This allows you time to structure your nightly routine. Instead of scarfing down a triple cheeseburger minutes before bed, you decided to eat earlier in the night which allowed you more time to do other stuff. Like planning out your to-do-list for the following day.

It’s mind-boggling how interconnected it all is. Good habits swim together.

I suspect that if you think about it, you will find that you’ve indeed developed good habits, and that they’ve been the glue that has allowed you to piece together your goals, one day at a time.

What would happen if you deleted these habits from your life? You’d lose a lot more than you think.

That’s all I got…

So don’t forget about the positive habits you’ve struggled to create. It’s like forgetting the “little guys” once you’ve made it to the big stage. The habits being the “little guys.” You wouldn’t do that though, I’m sure of it.

Show them love by continuing to do them, and they’ll continue to love you back—they’re the glue that make goals into reality. Keep them. And continue to enjoy the benefits they bring into your life.

 

P.S. Only 17 more days until the book is released! Finally I know…It’s been an incredible journey writing this book. A lot of emotional days thinking back to how I struggled with my fear of public speaking. So much of that fear I relived, and this made me empathize more and more with those who’ve hit a roadblock in confidence when it came time to share their ideas in front of others.

I must admit, I am truly excited to share it with you. I know it has the potential to help you and so many who are being held back by this tremendous fear. Pick up a copy for yourself during these last 17 days while it’s on the house! Or, FREE,  in case you’re not familiar with that cliché. Go here to get it.

The only risk is missing out on this opportunity to pick up a life changing idea (for free). That’s how strongly I feel about overcoming the fear of public speaking.

Now go set those goals!

 

 

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