Preparation 2015 – think right-to-left and meet your goals!

2015 has arrived and I wish everyone a wonderful new year. Time really flies. I hope this year we can all catch a breath and enjoy the scenery as we whiz along. Resolutions are the “in-thing” at this time of the year. Here’s to grit and hope! However, statistics are not on our side. Not many personal resolutions will endure beyond the first week.  How can we be confident of achieving the goals we set? Today I want to talk about the goals we set and the systems we use to achieve them. There is a very significant reason for failing to keep resolutions. Our brain is wired to prioritize. It takes energy (think glucose) to operate the brain. And when the brain is juggling many balls, it prioritizes some tasks over others. For example, when the first week of January kicks in with the pressures at work, the resolution to hit the gym every morning takes a back seat. So resolutions that don’t figure properly in the big scheme of things, are going to be broken first. That’s why we can’t quit smoking. And that’s why we fall for that yummy, delicious cake. Smokers and dieters, think about that. Sounds familiar? One of my clients called systems based thinking as “machine thinking”? It meant that unless the “method” to achieve the goal is defined, the goals themselves are invalid. In addition what was amazing to me was that even though we may achieve our goals, if the goals are not met using the defined “machine”, not only is […]