When you make a New Year’s Resolution, or establish a goal, do you approach the journey as a hare or a tortoise? As you venture down the road toward your eventual destination, do you sprint, or prefer to run a marathon? Personally, I am a marathon runner when it comes to my dreams, resolutions, and daily goals (which I like to call Daily Resolves).
Some gifted folks can sprint to the finish line with incredible, quick results. I, on the other hand, am happier going the distance one small concrete step at a time, one day at a time, at my own tortoise pace because I finally figured out that “it really is the journey not the destination that truly is important to me.” I credit my middle-class, Midwest upbringing (and firm, wise parents) to my patience, practicality, and willingness to work hard. That patience, along with persistence and passion have, over the years, enabled me to stick with my dreams long past the time when many would have given up and moved on. Call me stubborn, but that stick-to-it-ive-ness—i.e. patience—has paid big dividends on my dreams.
In the course of the past six years, as I have studied and tested what works and doesn’t work for resolution-making-and-keeping, I have continually circled round to the notion that good, old-fashioned, common sense is enormously helpful. So much of what has worked for me is simple and straightforward. No rocket science, or complicated formulas are needed. What is necessary is a dream about which you have great passion and a fierce belief that you have what it takes to succeed.
Here are ten Common Sense Tips, that can lead to success with dreams, resolutions, and daily goals/daily resolves:
- Dare to Dream: Open your mind to the endless possibilities. Introspection and research can pay huge dividends: Discover and contemplate the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” of your dream at the outset; then keep your plans simple and realistic, focus on just one life-altering dream at a time.
- Decide: When you reach the “A-HA” moment, that fabulous point in time when you know what you must do, make a firm decision to go for it with everything you’ve got. No slacking or quitting allowed.
- Define: In one concise sentence specify what you intend to achieve, how you intend to get to the finish line, and why you’re entering the race.
- Develop a Plan: Dreams are huge and overwhelming. A well-thought-out written plan with clear-cut, simple steps, deadlines and a timeline will enable you to proceed methodically, with confidence because you have a system: a process, a game plan that will take you from start to finish.
- Do It Daily: Take one small step at a time, one day at a time, for one year. Make your passions ‘Lifetime Resolutions’ that are with you for good, not just something that you do and cross off the list!
- Don’t Procrastinate: Just show up and do something every single day, especially the days when you are the least motivated. Those days are big hurdles. Each hurdle that you cross takes you closer to your destination—and that day’s work could turn out to be your best ever!
- Don’t Give In to Fear: Fear and doubt are dream-killers because they cloud your good judgment and rob you of optimism and positive thoughts. Give fear and doubt the boot by getting busy and producing fresh results and a new-found sense of accomplishment every single day.
- Don’t Get Discouraged: Progress can be painfully slow and obstacles more plentiful than victories. Carefully track tasks and milestones, in writing, so you can celebrate your wins and take credit for crossing hurdles one-by-one.
- Don’t Grow Bored: Revamp and revise your plan frequently, injecting new life into each juncture of the journey. Have some fun!
