"Set smaller goals with smaller steps"
Bulls--t! Setting small goals may make you feel like you accomplished something (small), but it is a surefire way to the bottom of the heap and life of mediocrity.
If the biggest idea you have starting out this year is to set a smaller goal then you might as well crawl back in bed and go back to 2009.
In our neverending quest to live a couch-potato Slurpy-filled life free of actual emotions and experience, we now are telling people to squeeze their resolutions into a 3 oz bottle so they can pass through airport screening.
Here is what you want to ask yourself when making a new year's resolution:
1. Do you want to break out of a rut that you might find yourself digging deeper and deeper?
2. Do you want to connect with REAL feelings? Both the rush of deeply connecting with someone and and the anguish of trying to start a new business and failing?
3. Do you want to learn something new about yourself this year? Find a new pool of strength?
If these are the goals you have, then come up with at least one resolution to challenge yourself. You may not make it in one year, but it will set up the right pace. Ask yourself what has been holding you back from the goal and try to remove those psychological obstacles.
One of my goals this year is to exceed the goal we set for live projects on National Lab Day - a new effort to bring hands-on learning to kids in K-12. http://nationallabday.org We set a goal of 10,000 projects by May - It's a stretch goal, but is is achievable and we already have more than 500 projects live in a few weeks. I think we can exceed that number with the partners we have.
Each project will affect about 100 kids so that could reach 1 million students!
If a goal is not inspiring, you won't fulfill it no matter how small it is. Envision yourself getting to the goal and what that would be like for yourself, your family, your work team -
Think about resolutions as a group effort - all the people that could support you in your goal; all the people affected by the resolution. Don't go it alone - put out the call for help and support. Our peers and our family can keep us on track.
Go ahead, dig deep and craft a resolution that will knock your own socks off. Barefoot can be tingling!
Happy New Year - go for it - let me know how it went!