A New Year and Time for Starting

Welcome 2012, I am looking forward to a new year of possibilities and starting.  The first week of January in the blogosphere seems to be dedicated to goals / resolutions / lifestyle changes.  A common theme I keep hearing (and reading) is change is good for us.   Change, one of life’s necessities for happiness, but let’s be honest, most people have no intention of changing…unless the pain of change is less than the pain of maintaining the status quo.

So if you are satisfied with your current state mentally, physically, and emotionally than congratulations because you are in the minority.  The rest of us can’t claim total satisfaction.  Ask just about anyone and they can probably come up with a dozen things that they wish they could change.  The problem is that wishes seldom come true. 

I love magic…I almost shed a tear when the credits rolled on the final Harry Potter movie.  Fairy tales are great too, but magic is not going to change your current state. 

Where I am going with my thought process is summed up nicely by Seth Godin in what he calls the “Seventh Imperative”.  Seth uses this imperative for more than just business, but an approach to life as well.

The Seventh Imperative – from Poke the Box

1. The first imperative is to be aware – aware of the market, of opportunities, of who you are.
2. The second imperative is to be educated, so you can understand what’s around you.
3. The third imperative is to be connected, so you can be trusted as you engage.
4. The fourth imperative is to be consistent, so the system knows what to expect.
5. The fifth imperative is to build an asset, so you have something to sell.
6. The sixth imperative is to be productive, so you can be well-priced.

 

But you can do all of these things and still fail. A job is not enough. A factory is not enough. A trade is not enough. It used to be, but no longer.

 

The world is changing too fast. Without the spark of initiative, you have no choice but to simply react to the world.  Without the ability to instigate and experiment, you are stuck, adrift, waiting to be shoved.

 

I can find a thousand books and a million memos about the first six imperatives.  They were drilled into you in countless moments in school, and plenty of graduate schools and bosses are delighted to help you with them. But when it comes to the seventh imperative, it seems as though you’re on your own.

 

The seventh imperative is frightening and thus easy to overlook or ignore.  The seventh imperative is to have the guts and the heart and the passion to ship.

Seth’s seventh imperative simply means you need to make the change.  The winners or change agents have turned initiave into passion and a practice.  To make 2012 a year of change requires you to shift your focus and actions so that you get a better outcome.  There are a lot of books out there on goal setting and planning for personal and business change.  I know, I have read a lot of them. 

The sad thing is that making resolutions and changing are not the same thing. 

How many resolutions do you see succeed?

Everyone makes them. Everyone breaks them.  The first week of January and I have already seen a dozen of my facebook friends post that they have already failed on their resolution.

What does it take?

The challenge isn’t perfecting your ability to know when to start and when to stand by.  The challenge is getting into the habit of starting. 

• Let’s look at some common goals people have:
• Lose weight
• Run a marathon
• Stop _______ (smoking, drinking, staying up late, watching TV, etc.)
• Learn a language
• Get out of debt

These are all great goals, but what is missing is a firm deci­sion to make them happen. To START.  Sure, you might have made some plans like joining a gym, buying a Rosetta Stone Spanish program. That’s almost starting.

But let’s be honest, are you starting? Are you taking actions to make those goals real? 

That starting is the first decisive action step and just like pushing a stalled car.  Getting the car moving is the hard part, but maintaining the motion is a breeze in comparison.  The decisive action to start is what transforms wishes into goals and makes them a reality.  The first step may be hard, but the key is to start. 

Ask yourself, what do you truly want?

A step in any direction will take you somewhere, but is it somewhere you want to be?  Make sure you know what is truly important to you, otherwise you aren’t going to succeed in taking the neces­sary actions to live the life you want.

For instance having six-pack abs may be cool, but who is going to see them at the office?  You drop down a few pant sizes and that is noticeable.  Long distance running not your thing, pick something challenging to complete. 

Be specific with your fitness goals and what you want, because than the odds of you seeing those six-pack abs goes up exponentially.  You’ll have a true reason to train and eat better.

And maybe the thing you need to finish isn’t a marathon. Maybe just finish­ing a solid three-month train­ing plan (or here, or here) is what you really need to get stronger than you’ve ever been in your life.

Still don’t know what action to take?

Are you looking for the “thing” to start?  Do you even know what is possible?

Our model of health is shaped by the newsstand at the grocery store checkout or the newest infomercial on TV.  Maybe your coworkers are telling you what health is and isn’t.  Those aren’t terribly bad placese to get information from, but you would be better served by doing some soul searching. 

How can I help you?

Thank you for reading this far.  If you did, it is likely that you still need some help figuring things out.  As someone that has been down many different paths and tried many different things, I would love to help you figure it out.  Drop a comment or feel free to contact me (tab up at the top of the screen).  I can help you create an action plan and help you START something.

To your success and starting,

Richard