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Well, we’re halfway through January. Have you already broken your New Year’s Resolutions? (Assuming you made any?)
What would a New Year be without some resolutions? Individuals make them. Companies make them. What would life be like without trying to improve yourself?
As individuals we find hope in the New Year and talk to ourselves about how we are going to improve over the next twelve months.
Companies make budget plans in the second and third quarters on how they are going to improve their operations in the next year. These are a little bit more formal, but it is the same thing. We want improvement.
I suppose a good question to ask is, “Why do we want to improve?” And why do so many of us want to improve? I mean, who doesn’t think about a News Year’s resolution even if we don’t actually make one?
How many of us break our new resolutions even before we get started? And why is that? We have chosen to get better, but then we abandon our plans before they even get started.
We choose to do something, but we don’t gear up the machine to make it happen. We don’t make the necessary changes in our minds; we don’t see ourselves in the way that we want to.
We have to properly align and manage our people (and ourselves) if we want to see change occur in our lives.
Most of us would choose a better life, if we could. What stops us is that we have not prepared ourselves for the change. Our mental models remain the same. Our self-image remains the same. Our character and values are the same, and our goals are not clear and concise.
In business we use the same format year after year; it is usually what the accountants (sometimes referred to technically as bean counters) feel they can deal with the easiest. Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are beanies, and I am crazy about my accountant. But the operations people need an operations plan.
And we as individuals need to have operation plans.
What is an operation plan? It is a list of things to do, or not do.
A true operation plan needs an awful lot of care and love from the people and yourself. You need to visualize the changes, create new models of how you will operate. You must determine what character and values will be needed to support this type of change.
Just because you choose, things won’t suddenly happen. Your changes have to come from the inside. You have to see them in your mind as real, or they will not happen at all.
Success is always something that has seen in his or her imagination before it happens. People don’t invent things because they choose to; it is because they saw something in their imaginations.
In the world of day-to-day living and day-to-day operations we don’t use our imaginations very often, we use the numbers. We use the grind: “Got to go to work, make a living.” And before we know it we are back to where we started no matter what we chose, or how many good intentions we had, or how good our attitudes where.
So do you want to be more successful? Put all the interrelated areas that affect your goals and choices together using the Four Dynamics and the Characteristics of Success as we define them on our website. Learn to use the necessary tools to help everyone see the change vividly.
You might have to change the way that you make your resolutions, or plan your business, or plan your life, but it will be worth the extra effort.
PS: If you still want to work on those resolutions, we have a new CD available at lifemotivations.com that highlights the Keys to Successful Goal Setting.
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