Here are 5 steps to achieving your goals using one word:
Identify what you want
Plan the best way to achieve it
Break down the goal into manageable pieces
Set a date for completion
Follow up on your plan and review regularly.
Ditching all of your New Year's resolutions? Not so fast. This year, instead of resolving to lose weight or work more hours, try taking on a single word that captures what you want from life. It could be "creative", "organized", or just "happy". Either way, the point is to get excited about achieving one goal. Once you've done that, you simply need a way to measure each month's progress.
"I'm up to three hours of daily exercise," says Frank Wildman, 35. "I like to run in the early morning when there aren't any cars around." So whether it's a fitness program or cleaning out your attic — anything you can do consistently for 30 minutes three times a week — all of your new year's resolutions should be linked together by one word that captures your goal.
"There are so many possible words," says Wildman, who prefers to go by his first name in order to give customers and friends more reason to buy his services. "Maybe your word is 'relationship' or 'health'. Personal growth. The point is to choose a word that makes sense and that you can clearly define."
The second step is to make your goal achievable to achieve on a daily basis, something that comes naturally to you, like exercise. It's not hard instead of going to the gym, running outdoors. His one word was "fitness", says Wildman — and it helped him drop the 20 pounds he wanted by the end of 2005.
"With my next goal, I want to be more organized," says Kristen Merrill, 37.
It's difficult for me to do away with clutter. Sometimes I have to force myself to clear out my closets. Even though I love my clothes, I don't think that an entire closet full of them is necessary. My one word will be "organization" and my goals for the year will be to make more money, buy a house and get organized."
Once you've chosen a word and your specific goal, it's time to start working on achieving your goals. First, Wildman recommends that you write down one very specific — but flexible — goal broken down into manageable pieces. Then make a list of the steps you need to take each day so it's easy to see progress at the end of every month. Wildman uses his website FrankWildman.com as a great resource for inspiration to help you get started.
Give yourself permission! Studies show that people tend to fail when they struggle without the initial boost of getting started on a new habit. So let's set an effective goal that has real meaning to you. Then I recommend that you start the process of breaking up your huge, convoluted goals into smaller, more manageable steps by saying: "Let's do it one day at a time." It's not about easy or difficult — just accomplishing each step will be very rewarding in and of itself.
You can do it !!! Just choose a word and make it happen.
About the Author, Frank Wildman:
Frank Wildman is a "one-word" expert. He works with individuals and corporations, using one word to tackle goals or plan resolutions. He also teaches you how to map out your life using one word at his new website www.OneWordMap.com.
A long time ago, Frank asked someone how to spell "potential". The response was how spelled exactly the way it sounds: "poh-tential". But Frank saw potential as a more positive sounding word...