When Alice in Wonderland was lost and came upon the Cheshire Cat in the tree she asked “Cheshire Puss, would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where...” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
If you are lost in the woods and like being lost, stop reading now...move on to something else. There is nothing below that will help you.
But if you have an “I’m going to do it this year” mentality, read on.
I think it is great that our calendars reset once every year. It gives us the chance to start all over again on a regular basis. We all need new beginnings from time to time. No matter what happened in 2021, as the year came to a close and it became a historical event in our lives. It needs to be put on a shelf and each of us needs to move on.
Whether 2021 was the best year of your life, the worst year of your life, or something in between, it is over, done, finished. It is in the rear view mirror and, unless you have found a way to live your life backwards, your wheels are moving forward, or should be. Rear view mirrors do serve a purpose, but there is a reason they are much smaller than the view out the windshield in front of us.
As we push the gas pedal to move forward into 2022, we should only look into the rear view mirror to help us accomplish greater things in the year ahead.
There is something that you need to be accomplishing in 2022. As a matter of fact there is something that only you can accomplish in the twelve months ahead. You need to get up each day, each week, each month with the challenge of accomplishing what you need to be accomplishing, whatever that looks like.
There are some out there who are like the little boy who shot an arrow into the wall and then took a red marks-a-lot pen and drew circles around where it hit the shape of a target. It appeared that he hit the bullseye when in fact he hit a random location and then made it the bullseye.
There are people who had an awesome 2021 and will coast in 2022 as they repeatedly point out to the world what they did last year. There are people who scraped bottom in 2021 and may begin 2022 sitting on the side of the road paralyzed because of a poor year.
In both instances my advice is the same, “Get over it.” Put your life in drive and move forward. Good or bad, don’t let yesterday keep you from accomplishing what you need to be accomplishing today.
When a new year begins, we take time to reflect on the journey we have traveled and we think about what adjustments need to be made going forward. There are many dimensions that encompass the lives we live. I have seven that I focus on: spiritual, family, physical, mental, career, relationships, and financial. We should each take time to review these areas and determine if we are hitting a “10 out of 10” or if we need to make adjustments or modifications to improve in each area.
If you write down your resolutions, you are 11 times more likely to accomplish them than just making mental notes. Go grab a blank sheet of paper. Write down each of these seven areas and under each area write down at least one thing you can do to improve in 2022.
Let me break them out further for you: Spiritual - your relationship with God, Family - relationship with spouse, children, parents, relatives, Physical - diet, exercise, healthy living, Mental - attitude, education, discipline, Career- training, growth in profession, Community - local organizations, contributing time or resources, being active in making a difference in our community, Relationships - friends, mentoring, meeting needs of others, Financial - debt reduction, saving for college or retirement.
This exercise can be life changing.
What keeps us from writing down targets to shoot for in each of these categories? I can think of many excuses: time, discipline, fear of failure, fear of accountability... I think the greatest things that we don’t ever accomplish are defeated by the excuses we make. It is an unfortunate aspect of the lives we live.
How about a “no excuse” approach? The opposite of excuses is accountability. What would be wrong with writing down goals or resolutions, sharing them with another, and then launching into a new year with targets to shoot at. I would rather you define a target and then miss it than to not have a target to shoot at.
Hockey great Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Most of the people around you don’t have the discipline to define targets in their lives.
My challenge to you is to be intentional about your life. Evaluate where you woke up today and define where you want to be tomorrow. Otherwise, like Alice in Wonderland, it doesn’t really matter what direction you move.
You only have so many trips left around the sun. Another one of them has just began. Take the opportunity now to define your targets for 2022. Then take action to get there.
Don’t wake up a year from now and say “I wish I would have...” You control you. Sometimes that is all you control. You determine what you do in the steps you have here on this planet.
Don’t settle on being like everyone else. Don’t be ordinary. Set some written goals and be extraordinary!
Be the best you can be in 2022.
Just a thought...
Rick Kraft wishes you a blessed and abundant 2022 ahead. To submit comments, contributions, or ideas, e-mail to rkraft@kraftlawfirm.org or write to P.O. Box 850, Roswell, NM, 88202-0850.
