How To Keep Mindful And Committed To Goals And Resolutions

How many of your New Year’s resolutions do you even remember beyond the end of January? In recent years, I’ve avoided this feeling of failure by just refusing to resolve to do anything. My stance has been that I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. Others choose to call their resolutions goals to try to give them more meaning and to keep committed. Well, this year, I think I’ve found something that might help.

A useful technique to keep mindful and committed to your resolutions

I ran across this idea on Chris Brogan’s site. He suggests choosing one word that embodies the intention of your goal. If you set three goals or resolutions, then you would have three words, one for each. Here’s how Chris describes it:

If you want to try the process, it works something like this: think of how you want to be successful in 2009. Then, try to think in even broader terms. Extrapolate on the broader terms, and find one word to hang the idea on.
~ Chris Brogan

I really like this technique! As the year progresses, you just focus on your three or so words. I think this will help me remember my resolutions and remain mindful of them.

Also, because the words are broad, they are flexible. As the year progresses, the words can bend and mold to circumstances better than something more specific. This way my original intention doesn’t get lost just because my first idea doesn’t work out.

The three words that embody my goals for 2009

I’m going to stick to using just three words. Three is enough, but not too many. I think I can remember and keep mindful of three. Here are my three words for 2009:

Experiment. Brand. Live.

Let me explain a little what my words mean:

1. Experiment – 2009 is going to be a year of trying new things for me. I like the word experiment because it implies that failure is an option. Experimentation by definition is about testing hypotheses. I want to give myself permission to explore.

I’ve already started experimenting by buying a used MacBook. I intend to continue my experimentation with various uses for video, social media and maybe some programming. Who knows where this word might lead me?!?

2. Brand – I’ve been reading some about establishing a brand. I came up with the idea for starting MySuperChargedLife.com sitting under a tree. It was like a coconut fell and hit me on the head. I didn’t know a thing about blogging, but I was eager to begin.

I’ve learned a lot in the past year, but I still have a ways to go. I don’t think that I’ve done justice to creating and evangelizing the brand I want. Therefore, I’ve chosen this word to help me stay mindful of my brand.

This word also has value with things happening in my full-time employment, so it has implications for me that reach far beyond this site.

3. Live – This word is rich for me in so many ways. It will keep me mindful of my obligation to live out the things I write about. There is nothing worse than a hypocrite!

In addition, I’m going to use it to remind me of my commitment to improve my fitness and health. People live longer nowadays and I want to be sure that my quality of life doesn’t deteriorate as I grow older. I plan to make a real effort in this realm throughout the year.

What are you focusing on in 2009?

I recently posed this question on Twitter, “Do you design your life or do you simply let the chips fall where they may?” What’s your answer? All you have to do is choose three words to define a plan for where you want to be a year from now. Aren’t you worth it?

For more ideas and examples of how to use this technique, please read Chris Brogan’s article that inspired me to write this.

What are your three words?

Photo by vana_gwen

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