Good Intentions

JULY IS A GREAT MONTH to look back and re-evaluate how your year is progressing.

Boy, does time fly! It always seems to me, once we celebrate the Fourth of July, it’s suddenly football season and we are literally into the fourth quarter.

So take a moment and think about seven short months ago, let’s say, December 31st … Ah, it was New Year’s Eve, and perhaps you pictured a slimmer, healthier, wealthier, new you in the New Year!

Do any of these “Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions” sound familiar?

1. Lose Weight
2. Exercise
3. Quit Smoking
4. Quit Drinking
5. Be A Better Person
6. Spend More Time With The Family
7. Spend Less Time On The Internet (except reading FYI’s)
8. Be More Organized
9. Get Out Of Debt
10. Be More Spiritual

They should sound familiar because, in one form or another, they are the real Top 10 in survey after survey, year after year.

So how’s it going? You know what I mean, the new resolutions … goals … personal and professional development changes … you committed to on December 31, 2006?

Could be better?

Here’s the good news: Happy New Year! You don’t have to wait until December 31, 2007 to get back on track.

YOUR Best Year Ever can start anytime. It can start right now!

Today is the perfect day for a fresh start. To borrow some language from the song Good Intentions by a friend of mine, recording artist and (IMHO) lyrical genius, Lyle Lovett:

It makes for a good day for some serious reflection
and massive rationalization
For contemplating the future of the future
and the last of the past.”

It's just a fact of life that no one cares to mention
She wasn't good, but she had good intentions.

And maybe you had good intentions, too.

But, the two words in Lyle Lovett’s song I want you to think most seriously about are rationalization and intention.

Perhaps you came up short on some of your New Year goals. And, maybe, since the year is more than half-way over, you decided to give up on them completely.

Don’t!

I’ve got two questions for you.

Did you rationalize this goal out of your mind and your life?

Did you just have good intentions?

Case in point: You started 2007 out with a goal, perhaps one of the Top 10 New Year’s resolutions. But you didn’t have a well thought out plan of action, a definite strategy, and a big enough WHY to drive you.

You had good intentions but you didn’t take massive action. You didn’t get the necessary and important positive momentum working for you. Furthermore, when you didn’t get the immediate results or outcome you envisioned, you rationalized why, and the goal grew smaller, less important, until it was out of sight.

In his song, That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas), Lyle Lovett sings lines that fits perfectly with the above scenario:

Oh, the road it looked so lovely
As she stood there on the side
And she grew smaller in my mirror
As I watched her wave goodbye.

Each day you decide to not take action on them, your goals, dreams and motivation grow smaller. You get further and further away from that vision until you finally wave it goodbye. Sound familiar?

Its not too late.

What actually happened is not uncommon.

It’s called: The Law of Diminishing Intent.

It happens all around you, everyday, maybe not to you personally. But you hear it from family, friends and business associates. It’s called whining, complaining and blaming.

Some of the things you hear sound like this;

“Oh, that diet didn’t work, I tried it for three full days, but, you know, this is just me, my whole family is big.”

“My boss is a jerk, he keeps raising my sales quota, there is no way I could have ever hit that goal anyway.”

“I tried to start my own business, but between the economy, the war, you know… and besides that, the weather this year has been horrible.”

All of these good people probably had good intentions.

It’s not enough.

If any of this sounds familiar, now is the time to start -- again.

ACTION IDEA: Whatever it involves for you, a Best Year Ever doesn’t need a calendar to begin. The thought to keep in mind, even in the hottest days of July and August, is that your future is ahead of you, not in the rearview mirror. What becomes of your future, is 100% up to you!

Pop the champagne cork! Your Best Year Ever starts right now.

Go Out and Make This Your Best Year Ever!