The New Year started quietly for me. I used the time to write my business, financial and personal goals for 2012. I also spent time reflecting how far I had come during 2011. It was then I realised I had in fact had a roller coaster ride for most of it.

So much has changed for me. Some of those changes have had a huge impact on my life. One aspect was my health. I have always taken my health for granted. Unfortunately 2011 saw me laid low as I dealt with jaundice and then a 5 day stay in hospital with acute pancreatitis. I still struggle to realise how ill I was. My family and friends have got me through the difficult times, when I haven’t been able to do as much as I would have normally. As my body recovered, I experienced lack of energy and motivation I found it so frustrating.

I did not achieve all my goals for 2011 simply because I was not physically able to. But that is okay, I am not beating myself up that I didn’t. Instead I have adjusted my 2012 goals. There is nothing wrong with making changes to your goals, if you find you are struggling to attain them not from lack of trying but from circumstances which are outside of your control. I always look for a reason why I don’t achieve something not as an excuse but as a means of learning!

I now know my illness was to bring my family closer together, we had drifted away from each other like so many families, unfortunately life gets in the way, there is always so much to do, and we forget to make time for each other. My illness caused my family to take the time to reconnect, which for me is a wonderful result.

So whilst it may sound odd, I do appreciate my illness and what it has taught me, slow down and take time for family and friends, you never know what may happen!

I wish you all a happy and successful New Year.

Karen

Goal setting

I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about your mindset for the New Year, some of you may have worked through my suggestions, but for others the enjoyment or rush of Christmas and the New Year may have stopped you, as we are now a few of days into 2012 maybe it is time to look at goal setting.

Did you set New Year Resolutions? Looking back to the start of 2011 did you set any resolutions and how successful were you in achieving them? Or was it a case of sticking to them for a few weeks and then finding life got in the way or you couldn’t be bothered?
To help you set your goals, download my FREE 9 Steps to Great Goal Setting

In about 4 – 6 weeks the newspapers and magazines will be full of how we make New Year Resolutions but fail to carry them through. Are you like that? If so then maybe you are setting the wrong kind of goals, it is not a good time to be deciding what you want to change on New Year’s Eve, especially if you have had a drink or two!

Your unconscious mind is likely to think you aren’t serious because you haven’t taken the time to think through what you really want to change, i.e. sat down and set proper goals, an example could be to get fitter. What is getting fitter? How do you want to get fitter? Go to the gym, to start swimming or walking more? Unless you have a clear decisive goal in mind, you are not likely to succeed in staying the course.

So instead of wasting your energy trying, why don’t you take time out to set down clear goals, deciding what you can realistically hope to achieve and when by.

You have to decide the time you will need, for example to go for walks. Who will you go with, on your own or with a friend? When, in the morning, lunch time or evening? Where will you go walking, around the streets, in a local park or will you walk home one or two days a week?

Once you have decided what your intend to do, you then need to plan when it is going to happen, is it daily, weekly, or every two days, whatever? Will you go for a walk, even if it is pouring with rain, or will you put it off? I think most of us are fair weather walkers unless you happen to have a dog in which case it has to be in the rain as well, although I have known dogs who don’t like walking in the rain!

How far are you going to walk? What is the aim of the walk, is it to get more exercise in general or to help lose weight? All aspects of the goal have to be taken into account, even to the point where you know when you want to have achieved walking so many miles a week, for however many hours, to have lost the weight, slimmed down to what size outfit? It is to improve your health? Do you need to seek the doctor’s approval before starting?

To help you set your goals, sign up for my FREE goal setting ebook. To access the book, fill in your details and you will receive your copy of 9 Steps to Great Goal Setting FREE.