Do you remember your Christmas list as a child? The extraordinary gifts? The barbie doll, bicycle, video game or a particular clothing item? Remember how much you wanted that gift? You obsessed over the present. Was I good enough? Did Santa get my letter? There was a deadline, and you would know on Christmas day if you would receive the gift. The anticipation was high, and finally, you opened the present, and it was yours. Forever.
Today I challenge you to write down your Christmas list. This will not be your average Christmas list, but a final list of items that you want to accomplish before the end of 2020.
We have a saying at Krilogy: “Write it down, and it becomes a reality.” I heard this for the first time when I hired Mike Lindstrom, my coach, 12 years ago. It captured my approach to life in a straightforward way. I have been writing goals down for years, going back to my youth. I did not realize until learning from Mike the “what and how” I was accomplishing AND failing at goal setting.
I have always been a dreamer and a goal setter, but there is more to it than just writing down a goal, a time frame to attain the goal and hoping it gets accomplished. Dreaming of a goal happens first. Documenting the goal (writing it down) happens next, and then the hard part: reviewing the goal every day when you wake up, execute, repeat.
Dream Write It Down Review Daily Execute Repeat
The difference between success and failure is the effort to execute consistently.
“Vision without execution is hallucination.” – Thomas Edison
Execution feels like you are pushing a massive rock up a mountain. It takes strength, courage and determination. Sometimes the rock rolls back down the mountain, yet you still keep trying to execute. You are bruised and battered, and only you can decide if you will push this rock back up the hill.
Execution is not glamorous, and it is no fun. Execution is doing the work, obsessing over and worrying about the goal. Sometimes it feels impossible to reach. You will have setbacks. Your ego will get bruised and you will have a fear of failure and embarrassment.
The process forces you to dig deep into your psyche and challenge your mental strength. You will question yourself: Why am I doing this? Will I attain the goal? Can I do this? Am I capable? Will I be terrible at this? What will my family or friends say? Am I crazy? Am I egotistical? Am I selfish? Does this feel like a fun process? Most sane people will say no because it is not fun. It is hard, and this process is not for the faint of heart. You must be willing to endure the pain. Some of us love this goal-achieving process because we know that we will come out better once completed.
In response to the pain and suffering of hitting a goal, most people follow this path:
Dream Hope Rationalize
They dream of a goal, hope things work out, don’t put in the work and then rationalize when they fail. They might even write the plan down when they dream of it, then one day, the person remembers the goal from months past and wonders why they did not accomplish it. They neglected the goal. They ignored the plan. They did not do the daily tasks necessary to achieve the goal. They rationalize, “That is the way life is for me. Nothing ever works out for me.” Oh well, move on to the next dream-hope-rationalize scenario. Don’t do this. Please. Better to dramatically fail than to not try at all.
I still fail at goals – all the time. Mike taught me how to analyze why I failed at a particular purpose. Where in my execution did I miss the mark? I examine, I learn and I move on.
Do yourself a favor and spend about an hour every morning for the next week dreaming of what you want for Christmas. What goal do you want to accomplish before Christmas? Relationships? Career? Finances? Education? Health? Write down your own Christmas list. (If you are obsessed like me, you will laminate your list). Every morning you read your plan and write down the task you need to execute that day to accomplish your goal. Do not go to bed before you have completed those tasks every single day. Ask yourself, “Did I accomplish my mission for the day?” Answer honestly: yes or no. Make adjustments and move forward. Repeat.
I hope on Christmas Day you will have a wonderful gift to open.
Happy Holidays Friends!
Kent
