Thursday, January 23, 2014

What Is The Cost Of Not?

I have begun this year with much enthusiasm in my approach to my goals and commitment to actually achieve them.  If you refer to earlier posts of mine on goal setting, you'll learn that I am great with the initial idea but slack on the follow through!  I know we are only at day 23 of the year, but trust me, by now I would usually have handed the responsibility of achieving my goals over to the universe and have set about the remainder of the year waiting for the universe to provide.  You know, the old 'put it out there'?  Yes, I did that. I believe it has relevance, don't get me wrong.  I just continually 'put it out there' way too soon without giving it a helping hand.  I now have this concept in perspective. 

What I have become aware of in these last 3 weeks though is the 'putting if off' demon.   I will often think or say "I will do/take care of/get to that later."  I have come to realize that my 'later' never comes.  Ever.  I can't therefore say I have perfected working around this, however I am aware of it and have become a lot better at either doing something immediately or scheduling it in to be done.  A simple yet good example is the mail.  I open it and then put it aside to get to it later.  I now have a rule that the mail gets opened when I know I will deal with it right then and there.

In being (I would say) reasonably focused on my goals and therefore aware of thoughts and behaviours that may sabotage my achieving them, I have come to regularly ask myself this question:

What is the cost of not?

What is the cost of not doing what I had on my (short) list of things to do today? What is the cost of not getting up early to get done what I had planned for the morning? What is the cost of not pre-planning the night before?  You're getting my drift.

I am firmly fixed on the outcome and life changes of accomplishing my goals this year.   This means I am also firmly fixed on knowing the cost of not.  It is helping me to remain that bit more organised and remain focused on the job at hand.

What are the questions you ask yourself in order to keep you on track with your goals? Please share - this rookie goal setter is wanting to learn.