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Dr. J Thomas Smith

Source: Dr. J Thomas Smith / Radio One Houston #Motivation Mondays

If you are like most people, you began 2016 with many goals. What goals did you set?  Maybe 2016 was the year you were going to get a better job, slim down, eliminate a bad habit or meet the perfect mate.

Did You Achieve Your Goals in 2016?

2016 is over. Did you achieve your goals? It is a good thing to admit that you did not accomplish what you hoped that you would or worse, what you knew you could have if you had a plan. Recognition is step one toward creating positive changes in your life.

Each New Year you have reflected on the past and promised yourself that this New Year would be different. You set goals and you made resolutions that you would accomplish what you had failed to accomplish the year before.  However, you repeated the same behavior and failed to accomplish your goals.

Are You Practicing Insanity?

According to Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” Why do you expect things to be different if you keep setting goals in the same way over and over? Are you really expecting to accomplish your goals? It is time to take a different approach. Unless you are willing to change your approach, you will be ending 2017 the same way you ended 2016.

It doesn’t have to be the start of a new year for setting and achieving goals. But, the beginning of a new year does have a psychological effect on us. At the beginning of a new year, you have the feeling that you are given the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and get s fresh start. The reason you want to wipe the slate is because of what you did not achieve. Those who achieve their goals don’t want a fresh start fresh. Those individuals want to remember and continue to build upon their past success.

Resolve to Produce Results

As successful individuals achieve their goals, they are consistently setting new goals. As they set new goals, they move forward. Consistent forward momentum produces results that are endless. It doesn’t have to be a new year for you to get into action. What you need is to be resolved to produce results in your life.   In fact, that is what making a resolution means; “to be resolved to improve or change behavior.”

Your goals were not achieved in the past because you wanted to get your envisioned results without changing your behavior and following specific steps to success. Well, I believe that Einstein said it correctly; it is crazy to think that the same old patterns of behavior will get new results.

Seven Steps to Success

In 2017, let’s have a new beginning.  Let’s begin this New Year with forward motion by achieving goals continually. Here are the action steps to achieve your goals and produce the success you desire in your life:

1)         Start with baby steps. Avoid huge sweeping changes. Pick small goals that you can accomplish within the next 30 to 60 days.

2)         Become committed and resolved to your goals by writing them down and signing your name to them.

3)         Read your goals out loud daily and ask yourself what behavior and actions are needed today to achieve them. In the past you made goals, became busy with life, and soon your goals were quickly forgotten. Remind yourself daily.

4)         Take action based on your decisions each day. A little progress each day will bring you closer to your goal.

5)         At the end of your day, read your goals again out loud and ask yourself if you put forth every possible effort to achieve them. Make necessary adjustments in your action plan the following day when reading your goals again.

6)         Achieve your goals within 30 to 60 days.

7)         After you have achieved your goals, make new 30 to 60 day goals right away and repeat the process.

If you commit to follow these seven steps to success, at the end of December you will be celebrating new beginnings; a successful pattern of behavior that moves you forward from success to success for years to come.

J Thomas Smith is host of “Sunday Morning Live” on “The Real Sound of Htown” KMJQ/Majic 102.1 (9-11 ct). He is an attorneyauthorkeynote speaker and mental health consultant. Your comments are welcome at jtsmith@radio-one.com or jtsmith@worldfamousradio.com. Follow on Twitter @drjtsmith102 on facebook.com/jthomas.smith.12 and instagram.com/drjtsmith102.