What's up with all these introspectives?

Okay, so 2006 is over, and what a wonderful year it was. But why does that mean that every blogger and their mother has to re-cap all of their own work from the past year? Is there really nothing new in the world, giving us nothing to write about? I mean, this is only my second post, so I'm still new to this and all, but come this time next year, will there really be so little going on that I'll be reduced to talking about the things I've talked about over the year? I hope not. So heading in, since I obviously couldn't do an introspective if I wanted to, I'll instead look forward and talk about goals.

Goals are a tricky thing for me. Being an entrepreneur, I get big ideas all the time. Some are better than others, so oftentimes I'll let them percolate for a while. I used to talk about them to people, mostly as a way of reviewing them in my own mind and thinking them through. Sometimes I realize that I'm not able to implement the idea, or it's already being done, or that I just don't want to bother. Some (mostly my wife) started seeing me as flighty when I didn't follow through. I started getting wary of talking about my ideas (and by extension, my goals), so that people wouldn't think I have no follow-through when those ideas don't come to anything.

I've sort of gotten over that now. I've incorporated one of Covey's Habits, that being "begin with the end in mind," into my overall plans for the future. I also took a Strategic Coach workshop, and learned that it's not uncommon for entrepreneurs to be seen as flighty, because by our nature we do have a lot of ideas, and not all of them come to fruition. As they say, if you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there.

So now I do set goals, but I sort of take a "baby steps" approach to them. I'll take something I want to accomplish and break it down into tasks, which I can then benchmark or schedule out. If it's on the schedule, I'm a lot more likely to get it done; and if it's broken down into smaller tasks, the whole project seems a lot less overwhelming.

Strategic Coach also helped me find a way to deal with issues that come up. When I talk about an idea to my wife, she always tells me the ten different reasons why my idea wouldn't work. (More often than not, I've already identified those items - I tend to be an extremely conceptual thinker, so it's easy for me to see all sides of a problem.) Strategic Coach teaches that you should identify those reasons, then plan out ways to combat them. Once you've done that, you've already created a plan for reaching your goal.

Another thing I've learned is to measure your success based on how far you've come, rather than how much further you have to go. If you think about it, it's our nature to keep extending our goals; pushing ourselves further and further. It's like being in a ship and sailing towards the horizon. You never get there, because it moves further out. That can be depressing if that's what you're focusing on. Instead, if you look behind you; identify where you started from and acknowledge everything that you've already accomplished, you feel refreshed and rejuvenated!

I never make "New Year's Resolutions". Our society pretty much agrees that those are made to be broken. Then there's guilt and remorse. Why even bother? Why set yourself up for failure? Goals, on the other hand, are made to be achieved! So make your New Years Goals, share them with somebody that will keep you accountable, and enjoy 2007.