All around the blogisphere everyone seems to be talking about resolutions at the moment, being either definitely for or against them. I love them. My view is that you want to achieve something, you have to plan for it. I'm not saying all of my plans come to fruition or that I achieve everything I want to, but I am sure that if I just drifted along in life without planning, nothing would happen. Things rarely just fall into my lap without any effort, & if they do, they aren't always exactly what I had in mind anyway..
A planning tool I have picked up along the way is called the OGSR. I have based this on the famous OGSM model invented in the 50's, but have tweaked to suit my purposes. It helps to spend some time scribbling down your thoughts about what you want to get done this year & how you are going to do it.
Objective - the big picture of what you want to get done - ie
increase health
Goal - the different things that will result in increased health, ie
lose weight, get fit, manage a chronic illness, etc
Strategy - the actions that are required to achieve each goal - lose weight might be
join weight watchers, get educated on portion sizes, dont eat carbs after 5pm. Or something, I'm not an expert in this field.
Resources - each strategy will need a resource, something that will help you along, because you don't have to do it by yourself. ie
contact details for your local weight watchers, contact details for a dietician, the names of several blogs that will be a source of inspiration, a reminder of a local jogging group, etc.
Ideally you should only have a few Objectives, as they will be your major focus for the year & it's difficult to focus on too many things at once, as well as all the other multi tasking you are currently doing. Each Objective will have a few Goals, each Goal will have several Strategies & hopefully you will have lots of resources to keep you going. So by the time your spreadsheet is finished it will be a large wedge shape with the point on the left. Not unlike a piece of pie, mmmmm.
My former workplace didn't have an R for Resources, they had an M for Measure -
when will you achieve this, how much will you achieve, ie 5kgs per month, etc. (it was more about billings, less about weight loss, really)
I choose not to have the measure because it should be part of the strategy, & anyway, who needs that pressure? Don't you already have enough on your plate? Also, I prefer to start actioning resolutions on my birthday, as it is the 'new year' for me. So feel free to work it the way you want, because it's your life, baby!
It is important to formalise it on a spreadsheet (or whatever you prefer) & print it out, & also to display it somewhere prominent, so that you can see it every day at least once. The reasons for this are twofold;
- To stay focused. You really do need to remind yourself of the big picture because it's so easy to get bogged down in day to day crap.
- To stay motivated. Missed a weightwatchers meeting? Check out the other strategies that you didn't miss, you are still doing a great job! Tired of thinking about portion sizes? What other goals need attention right now?
My Objectives are always about having a healthy happy family, finding opportunities to be more creative, & being financialy prosperous. In recent years they have included career goals, but hey, I've got all this weight to lose...
So, I hope you find this helpful. I should point out that my friends laugh at me for doing this, especially the ones that are former colleagues. Are you making any resolutions this year? Do you have any sort of structure or system that you use?
Mrs BC
xx