Is it EVER 100%?

Yes, it’s that time of the year again. To take stock of how it has been and where do we go from here? I started the year very enthusiastically having started on my 2015 goals in November last year. In preparing for this article, I couldn’t find the goals which I thought I had cleverly written and kept. First mistake, you’re supposed to review them every month and look out for the percentage achieved. If I had done them, I would have been able to find my goals!

I am (was) convinced I know them so well so I am regurgitating them on a piece of paper as I am writing this. And no, that’s not quite a good strategy because some things have become fuzzy. I basically had 10 goals in the eight areas of my life from Fitness, Faith, Family, Friendships, Fun, Mental, Relationships to Finance. Do a search online on the Wheel of Life and you will see these areas. Looking at them now, one got thwarted but that was necessary and a new project cropped up instead.

I see I have yet to start on some goals (gasp!) and I may still have time to finish some goals (as I’m writing this late September). It’s amazing how the year creeps up on you. I have read enough books and listened to enough personal development gurus on the importance of writing the goals instead of putting it all in your head and I am glad I did them (despite misplacing them!). This bears repeating if you have not heard enough of this already.

Forbes did a study with about goal-setting carried out in the Harvard MBA Program. Harvard’s graduate students were asked if they have set clear, written goals for their futures, as well as if they have made specific plans to transform their fantasies into realities.

The result of the study was only 3 percent of the students had written goals and plans to accomplish them, 13 percent had goals in their minds but haven’t written them anywhere and 84 percent had no goals at all.

Ten years on, the 13 percent of the class who had goals, but did not write them down, earned twice the amount of the 84 percent who had no goals. The 3 percent who had written goals were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent of the class combined.

I strongly believe the human race thrives on challenges and goals and not just take up oxygen. There’s nothing like achievements and accomplishments to drive us to be better versions of ourselves. Who is to say what goals are right for you except for yourself? There is nothing too small or too big. For someone who feels they are down in the dumps, doing something (anything) positive is already a step forward and something to be proud of.

As I am planning for 2016 I can already feel the juices flowing and the excitement building up. There will be highs and I am sure lows as well. There will be things we will do well and some that will fall short. The price you pay for learning is priceless.

Taking all that into consideration, I thought I achieved 70% of my goals but now putting them on paper again, it looks more like 50% which I guess isn’t too bad after all. There were some areas I were unconsciously (or maybe consciously) avoiding like relationships and attempting to date again. And that is something I have to dig deeper and address.

All said and done, I guess 50% is better than 0%. I will achieve 100% of my goals in 2016…I hope! If not, I can only keep trying. Until next year mi amigos..