Resolving to resolve my goals

I’m sitting here at 5.30 this fine Sunday morning listening to Smooth FM and contemplating the fluff in my belly button.  Actually, I don’t have any fluff in my belly button, never have. I used to wonder if this made me less interesting but I concluded that I have a pretty belly button and fluff would spoil it anyway. So, anyhoo I’m in deep contemplation. I obviously couldn’t sleep any longer because my subconscious knows I have unfinished business and this is the best time to sort it out.

Normally on my birthday I draw up a list of things I’ve achieved for the year and compare it to what I wanted to achieve. I haven’t done this yet so here I am at the crack of dawn preparing to kick my own arse.  I take that back, I’m not going to kick my arse because that would be wrong and usually leads to depression. If I haven’t achieved everything on my list that doesn’t mean I’ve failed. If I’ve learnt anything in my Life Coaching studies it’s that there is no failure only feedback.  Failure is only a judgement about short-term results. If I haven’t reached my goals all it means is that I haven’t reached my goals yet. It’s not like I’ve given up or anything.

So what’s been good for me this year? Well. I published my book of poetry. Yay for me. I got my Life Coaching diploma. I’ve greatly improved my “work life balance” which means my health has improved too. I’ve started reading again and I dance more often. These are all good things and all achievable once I put my mind to it.  So still on my list of things to do is to finish my NLP and Counselling courses. The thing that is kicking my arse is the smoking. I’ve attempted to give up smoking twice this year so far. I called them trial runs but it’s coming to the end of the year and I don’t feel that I’m going to win this one.

This is going to sound like an excuse but in order to give up smoking I need to be in the right frame of mind: a zone. I know what it feels like because I’ve been there before and it just makes giving up easier. After that it’s the making it stick that becomes hard work. Health scares and death threats don’t work with me, family pleadings don’t work with me. Being in the zone is the only thing that works. It is hard to describe. I wake up one morning and know within myself that it’s time. I feel calm and believe that everything is in place to achieve my aim. I want that feeling now, which is probably why it’s a long time coming. I can’t force it because when I do I end up smoking before the day is out.

So, what to do? I’m going to celebrate my successes and roll the rest over to a new list of goals with a new timeframe.  If you’re planning on setting goals for the New Year here are some points to remember:

• Make your goals positive, (I can, will, want to),
• Your goals should be Inspiring,
• Make them specific and measurable. (How will you know when you achieve your goal? What will be different?),
• Break them down into manageable chunks. (Small chunks make the goal less daunting and therefore more attainable).
• Make sure they are in your control to achieve and not reliant on other people.
• Give yourself deadlines (It’s important to set deadlines otherwise we’d always be putting things off).

I think this would be a good time to write that thesis.