As of today, I’ve officially taken another trip around the sun….Yes, it’s my birthday. 🙂
When I stop and reflect on the past year, a lot has happened.
Some good, some great, some not so good, some not so great…..
On the flip side, when I stop and think about the upcoming year, there’s a LOT I want to accomplish.
When planning for an upcoming year, I’ve traditionally set goals for myself; however, after reading a bunch of articles that discourage setting goals, I’ve started to shift my perspective on the idea of it.
This article, in particular, suggests that one should focus on their intentions, rather than goals, because intentions are what keep you in the present moment.
Whereas, focusing on goals puts your mindset in the future, and, if you don’t have proper internal infrastructure in place, (i.e. how you deal with challenging emotions) setting goals can potentially bring forth a lot of anxiety.
Whether you choose to set goals or not, the truth about goals is that you don’t have control over your outcomes
What you DO have control over are the projects and tasks that give you the best opportunity to achieve your goals, OR, perhaps more importantly…..
…. live a happy life!
When you only focus on the things that you can control in your business, that’s all you can ask of yourself.
When you eliminate the things you can’t control, which is a LOT of things, it removes many of the anxieties and fears you would experience otherwise.
My encouragement for you is to get clear on the projects and tasks that are in front of you.
Create blocks of time for yourself to work on your projects and tasks.
For example, I work on 90 day blocks and prioritize projects and tasks within a 90 day timeframe.
I then break down the projects and tasks into smaller chunks and focus on incremental progress.
When I’m unclear of my projects and tasks and don’t have an incremental and systematic approach in place, this is when fear and anxiety kicks in for me.
I’m very clear that I don’t work well when feeling anxious and fearful.
My guess is that you don’t either.
Here’s a great article by Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, and how his company structures their work into 6 week cycles. Perhaps this will be helpful for you.
