Hello and a very Happy New Year to one and all. I have had a good month or so off the blog while catching up with all the Christmas planning, making those lists and checking them twice and all that! I also decided at the end of November that I would stop drinking, probably the worst time of year to do this but I wanted to try and push on with as many unfinished goals as I could….I was conscious that I would be setting new goals at the start of January and that I was the only person that was accountable for what I did and did not achieve.

Anyhow, I managed a full 30 days and this helped me to avoid the usual temptations of mulled wine and peanuts that have been my annual vices for as long as I can remember…I think I peaked in 2016…justified to myself that it was nearly Christmas from Halloween onwards and over indulged which always made it so much harder to start a health kick come the New Year.

Last year I spent a great deal of time researching to find a method of goal setting that would work for me. I have a hybrid of methods that I use now. The first 4 steps adapted from Brian Tracy in which the first step is making the time to do a thorough review of the previous year before planning out the new.

Step 1 is in two parts.

1. Take a sheet of paper or new page of a notebook and write the title “2017 Review”. Then create a sub-heading “Planned but not achieved” – now list out each goal however big or small that you either didn’t complete or get as much done as you had hoped. Next to each item you then take full accountability and write down the reason why – I like to do this in red pen so that it leaps out at me when I review down the line. For example I didn’t xxx because I didn’t make time to…save enough money to…focus enough on…

2. Next write the heading “What I achieved” and list out everything you did achieve. Leave plenty of space, you will be surprised how many things you remember once you get started. It can be useful to consider items by category such as home, work, friends, family, holidays, hobbies etc.

I love this first step and the process of marking the end of one chapter and staring a new. I’ll pop back with Step 2 very soon. If you haven’t already maybe you want to consider doing your own look back and 2017 review…it really can help with the next step of planning this years goals and recognising where you had success and what may have held you back.

Would love to hear how you get on if you do. I will be back very soon x