2017 begins on Sunday. People are planning how they’ll spend New Year’s Eve and many are even thinking of New Year’s Resolutions and goals for the coming year. TV is flooded with commercials to lose weight, quit smoking, or join a gym seem to get in the best shape of your life. A new year is like a stack of clean paper begging us to write a better life story.
Why not try something different?! 87% of all adults create new goals and resolutions for the New Year, however 50% of those resolute people will abandon them by the end of January. There’s a very small percentage of those who keep them going beyond January who will still be working on them when summer arrives.
Most years I wouldn’t make it to the end of January. My resolutions ended up being a wish list only to be quickly forgotten. It was discouraging. I’d accomplish a few things but most of my resolutions were still there, waiting for action, but had been ignored because they’d been forgotten in the busyness of each day, week, and month.
I stopped making resolutions in 2013 after hearing a podcast with Dan Britton, Jimmy Page, and Jon Gordon. They’re the authors of a book, One Word that will change your life. Their premise is resolutions don’t work because the goals we set are “to do” goals rather than “to be” goals.
To do goals limit our success to what we do whereas to be goals measure success by who we become. When we change the focus from what we accomplish to who we become, real transformational change is possible because our heart begins to change and our actions follow.
They propose a single word theme for the year, instead of creating a list of resolutions for the year. Having one word drives a laser-like focus because this theme applies to all areas of a person’s life for the year. Britton, Page, and Gordon refer to these areas of our life as six dimensions which include:
- Spiritual
- Physical
- Emotional
- Relational
- Mental
- Financial
My words since 2013 have been Believe, Courage, Intentional, and Boldness. One of the most interesting things to note was how my word applied to the six dimensions of my life. Putting them into practice hasn’t always easy but when I have, it has made a huge difference in addressing doubts, questions, and moments of being scared as I stepped into growth and new areas of my life. I have grown personally and professionally these past four years in large part because of these words.
My word for 2017 is “Connected.” I want to live a connected life where I’m better connected in my personal and professional lives. I’ve begun to think about what that looks like in my relationships with my wife, our adult kids, our grandkids, and with our friends. I am also looking at ways to improve my connectedness with clients, prospective clients, and business partners. I look forward to seeing how being better connected manifests itself in each area of my life.
Will this approach make a difference in your life? You won’t know until you try and you just might find yourself doing away with resolutions too. If you do give this a try, please share your word with me too in an email, tweet, or on my Facebook, Google + or LinkedIn pages. I’d love to hear from you!
Happy New Year!
