Balancing Act

Every January it is the custom to make New Year’s resolutions, create new goals and decide that this year will be better than the year before. For many of us, these lofty and ambitious ideas fall by the wayside almost immediately and we return to our well worn routines. And then comes the common refrain…."Well, there is always next year.”

With this in mind I want to share 10 great ways to help you make 2008 your best year yet. The great thing is that these ideas will work for you personally and professionally if you are sincere about making these ideas a part of your new routine. We will break this into a two part series. The first five ideas are available below.

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Idea 1. Fail to Fail

I am sure that sounds overly simplistic. What I mean is that thinking about failure is counter productive. We may encounter obstacles that prevent us from reaching our goals but that alone does not mean we have failed. There is always something to be learned from the experience.

This positive approach allows us to be more open to opportunities and to experience richer, more rewarding lives. By contrast, when we think of failure as the guaranteed outcome we leave ourselves with very little reason to take on any challenges.

Perhaps this is just a clever way to say that you need an attitude adjustment; but however you decide to look at it, allowing yourself to try new, challenging things is a great first step to accomplishing goals that, at first, seem impossible.

Idea 2. Be A Risk Taker

Let’s be clear; I am not suggesting that you become a gambler or use this next bit of wisdom as an excuse to make decisions that you know are bad. Being a risk taker is not an excuse to avoid common sense or abandon what you know to be right or wrong.

On the other hand, our goal in life should not be to avoid risk at all cost. There are some risks that are unavoidable. The point in life is to reduce our risk exposure within reason but recognize that without some risk taking, there would be no reward.

I am suggesting that people who are high-performing and focused on achievement are generally willing to take calculated risks. More importantly, this idea of taking calculated risk is done on a regular basis and is counted on as a vehicle to achievement.

In simplest terms, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Get used to taking risks on a regular basis to accomplish your goals.

To put this idea into practice, think about a decision that you need to make or an action you are considering. What are the risks associated with this decision? Is there anything you can do to reduce the known risk? The last question is, what is the worst that could happen? In most cases the the “worst” is really not as bad as we make it out to be.

Idea 3. Experiment

It has often been said that doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Do not settle for the same results. High performance in our personal and professional lives requires us to be mad scientists. We have to be willing to mix things up a bit to attain different results.

Experiment often. By telling ourselves that we are experimenting or testing we give ourselves permission to try new things, take risks and improve the quality of our lives.

Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

The experiments that work are keepers. The experiments that provided unwanted results can be scrapped. You can experiment in small incremental ways or you can experiment on a grand fashion but the important thing is that you continue to experiment. By making experimentation a part of your life you continue to evolve and improve. If nothing else, you will have some great stories to tell at the next cocktail party.

Idea 4. Overcome Your Barriers

When you think about last year, what held you back?

This is the time to be completely and brutally honest with yourself. Did you accomplish what you set out to accomplish? If not, what prevented you from achieving your full potential?

I suggest that you get out a notepad and list the things that held you back. Make sure you list everything. You do not have to share this with anyone else but you need to be honest about the challenges you face and take ownership of the things you can do differently.

Often the barrier will be the way you view something. Other times it will be a perceived knowledge deficit. In any case you have to be willing to acknowledge the items that are a problem and then address them head on. If you hate money because you always feel as though it is hard to pay bills then you should be focusing on changing your relationship with money. If you are responsible for generating new sales and your new business pipeline is not where it should be then you need to take steps to address this issue.

Idea 5. Think Big

Thinking small can be very dangerous to our happiness. All too often we think of progress in incremental terms. This is particularly true in the world of financial management where everything is thought of in percentages. ‘Revenue increased by 15%’ or ‘I received a 5% raise.’ In setting goals that are small, we limit our outcome. In essence, we settle for less than our potential.

Thinking about “realistic” goals feels safe because we set up expectations to not be disappointed. But we are no longer going to be held to such conventional thinking. We are willing to take risks and we are willing to experiment. We are willing to think big and set at least one huge challenge for ourselves.

Regardless of whether you hit this target or not, you can’t help but to improve your performance. Think about a typical goal like “This year I will exercise more.” With this humble and generic goal you may or may not actually exercise more this year. However if you establish a goal like “I will run in 10K race by the end of 2008″ you are much more likely to commit to your conditioning routine and be more fit by the end of the year.

Look for Part Two soon.