The old year is done and the new one has begun – are you in the driver seat of your future?

As a new world unfolds, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the year past and gain clarity about what you want to get out of the year ahead.

For some, 2023 has not been kind, with increasing interest rates that feel out of control, tension at home or work, and a relationship that may be struggling.  Can 2024 be better than this one?  

For others, it’s been a cracker year where life just seems to have gone ‘right.’

Why?  Is it luck?  Is it in the charts?

How much of what happens to us is in our control?

Life doesn’t always work the way we want it to, which often results in disillusionment or despair.  We get frustrated when things don’t go our way and believe that much of life is fate or luck.  

However, research below shows us that we have much more in our control than we think we do.

Less than 10% of life is predictable or controllable

Stephen Covey, author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, explains that for each of us, only 10% of events that occur in our lives cannot be controlled or predicted.

So, what about the other 90%?

Covey explains that life happens – the PC blew up, the car broke down and the plumbing has gone crazy.  We can’t predict these events or control them, but the rest IS under our control.

He explains that whilst 10% of life just happens, the other 90% is about how we deal and respond (or react to) the 10%.

When life ‘happens’ how do you deal with it?  

Do you react (get angry and defensive, for example) or do you go with the flow and try and find a silver lining in what happened?  

A lesson to be learned, perhaps?

How much thought have you given to going out and getting what you want?  

Less than 8 percent of us achieve our goals

Staggering.  Why?

According to research conducted by the University of Scranton, less than 8% of us achieve our goals for various reasons, leaving 92% of us not clear about what we want to achieve and how.

So, how can you be in that successful group?

According to Kuel Life, ‘the 8 percenters achieve their goals because of what they do, not who they are.’ 

What makes the 8 percenters successful?

Keep it simple

Make the goals this year simple.  Don’t use the new year as this huge bucket of things to achieve.  One thing at a time.  Simple. Success.

Measure it  

Make what you want to achieve tangible and be specific about what it is. Simply saying ‘I want to lose weight’ will set you up for failure.  Writing out a healthy eating and exercise plan and when and how you will do this is easier to follow and more practical

Make it obvious

A can-do list on the fridge will keep you accountable – and others will see what you are doing and encourage you to keep at it

Keep believing you can do it

Back yourself.  If you fall off the horse, dust yourself down and get back up on it.  Keep going.  Of course you can do it. Faith.  Belief.  Resilience

Work out what you value and why

If you value what you want to achieve and are motivated to get to where you want to go, success is inevitable

As American politician Jeff Boss notes for Forbes, 

‘having a clear, compelling goal mobilises your focus toward actionable behaviour. Once you’ve set down your goals, it will be much easier to devise a practical, realistic plan to reach them, as well as create a timeline that accounts for your unique individual circumstances.’

Goals drive you towards a purpose and a successful new year.

Goal setting is the development of an action plan designed to motivate and guide you to achieve the things you want.  A goal is purposeful, intentional and the person attempting to achieve it is motivated and committed.

So do you set goals, or just talk about them, with not too much purposeful action behind them.  SMART goals are key to achieving those things we want as they give you purpose and a clear reason to get out of bed every day to do what motivates you … purpose.

Achieving what we want in life is often so near, yet so far.  And whilst we may know what we think we want, unless we have a plan to go out there and get it, it doesn’t happen. 

As we move into another year, let’s think about what we want to do with it and how we want it to be better for us.

And on your goal list for this new year – kindness.

The world is not doing that well right now.  Let’s make every small difference we can. 

Make a goal of yours to be kind to others.  Help others when they stumble but become an ally and cheerleader of each other.

We certainly need it.

Have a cracker 2024!