So 2018 is almost in the books, and I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on the last year.  My accomplishments.  My failures.  Lessons learned along the way,  Reflection is a powerful tool allowing us to objectively evaluate where we are in our journey, what has helped us forward, and what has held us back.  Brutal unflinching honesty is necessary here and that can be a little painful.  But the pain is worth it if it gets us back on track and closer to our goals.

My theme for 2019 is positive change.  Change can be such a dirty word sometimes.  It’s often used as a weapon like, “Why don’t you change?”  Or, “To do that is going to require change.”  These statements and others like them seem to have a negative connotation.  Even writing them here gives me a pit in my stomach.  But change is a positive thing.  Without change, mankind would have never crawled out of the caves and become a farming society.  Without that event, I wouldn’t have the life I have.  Thanks cave people.  I’m glad you left the dark hole you were living in.

Change can be scary and overwhelming.  Even one small change can make it feel like everything is changing and changing too fast.  I have been there.  Getting out of my comfort zone is an exhausting, trying experience, and yet I feel so much better and gain more and more confidence when I do.  Setting a goal for change and achieving that goal makes me feel like a million dollars and ready to take on the next mountain.

So as we approach 2019, I thought I would share one strategy every day for making 2019 the year of positive change for you as well.

Set a realistic goal and make a plan.  You’ve heard this a thousand times.  I know when I hear someone say this, my eye roll starts before the first part is even past their lips.  I’ve learned this year though that they’ve been right all along.  You have to have a goal.  Less than three percent of Americans have written their goals down on paper.  Less than one percent write their goals down every day according to the best research out there on this topic.  The trick to goal setting is to make realistic goals and a plan to achieve them.  One of my goals for 2019 is to get in shape.  Sound familiar?  This tends to be the number one goal people have at the beginning of every year.  But then the gyms are empty by February.  One of the reasons is because getting in shape is a vague and unrealistic goal.  A better goal, that’s realistic, specific, and has a plan built in is I will go to the gym for one hour three times a week.  Boom.  That doesn’t sound nearly as bad as getting in shape.  Once you figure out your goal that is specific and realistic, write it down.  Write it down every single day.  Put it in front of your eyes as often as possible.  You’ll be excited with the results.