So we’re in the final quarter of 2013. Are you on track to accomplish all the goals you set for yourself both personally and for your business? A lot of times, we treat our goals much like we do our New Year’s resolutions. They sound great at the when we’re establishing them, but our execution doesn’t always go as planned!
If you are on track to accomplish or surpass the goals you set for yourself for this year, congratulations! You know that achieving your goals doesn’t happen by accident and that it takes a lot of effort and reworking of the plan to make those goals a reality. Yes, when the stars are aligned, things do seem to happen magically, but you have to do your part to make the magic happen!
If you’re not on track and wondering where the last nine months have gone, then it’s to review your approach and make sure you don’t find yourself in the same position next year! Having a plan is the first step, but then you have to execute it! A goal without a plan is just a dream. Maybe you created a plan late last year or early this year, but then you never went back to it. We have to review our plans on a regular basis to make sure that it still makes sense and that we haven’t lost sight of it.
Some of us become “married” to our plans. Even when it becomes clear that the plan isn’t working or that we forgot or didn’t consider certain factors that affect the plausibility of it, we stay the course. Flexibility is an important part of any plan. Remember, the plan is your guideline for how you’re going to make your goals become a reality. The focus should be on the goal, not the plan!
Think about it this way: you want to get downtown and you know that the quickest way to get there is to take the highway (if you’re not travelling in rush hour, that is). What do you do if you hear on the news that the highway is closed? Do you still stick with the plan to take the highway, knowing you’re going to be stuck in gridlock and have to make a detour or do you simply plan an alternate route? Many of us are stuck in major traffic because we refuse to alter our plans in order to make our goals happen.
You’ve got just under 3 months to make things happen and end 2013 not with a whimper, but a big BANG! Now’s the time to review that plan, tweak where needed and make sure that you have a strategy in place for the new year as well. Don’t wait until January to get clear on what you want to accomplish in 2014. So, what are you going to do to execute your plan so that you can build momentum that will take you into 2014 motivated, empowered and feeling unstoppable?
Sandra Dawes is a certified life coach specializing in helping women who feel unfulfilled with their 9-5 follow their dreams and pursue their passions. She holds an Honours BA, an MBA as well as a certificate in Dispute Resolution.She is working on her first book, Embrace Your Destiny: 12 Steps to Living the Life You Deserve!
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www.embraceyourdestiny.ca
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