Well it's that time again, and I hope that, for all of you that celebrate Christmas, you have had a terrific time ... perhaps even that Santa has been kind to you!
But as we settle into that post-Christmas period that (in Australia at least) seems to involve post-Christmas Sales, watching sport on TV or live, and visits to the beach, many of us are girding our loins for what lies just around the corner in the New Year.
You know how it works. With a nice buzz about you on New Year's Eve from a taste of sparkling wine or three, we tumble into that cliched thinking of what our New Year's resolutions will be.
DON'T DO IT!
I know that I am a big fan of goal-setting, but for 2008 why don't we try a slightly different approach?
Instead of setting yourself some outrageous goal in a time of befuddled thinking, try instead to think back on all your successes in 2007.
That's right. As you sip that celebratory beverage and wait for the fireworks to explode into the night sky, do some celebrating of your own. List all of your great moments from 2007 and take a moment to savour them, celebrate them and even toast them.
Why would you want to do this?
Simply because most people (an overwhelming percentage) are their own best and worst critics.
Don't believe me? Think back now on all the times you have chastised or castigated yourself for some failing over the past year. That time when you didn't deliver the best result at work you could ... when you slacked off in a workout ... when you put off some chore or task ... when you said the wrong thing to your partner/friend/parent etc.
Chances are that on each of these occasions when you were thinking about what didn't go so well, you spent a fair amount of time critically analysing yourself - and in most cases, this is probably a good thing. It's what hopefully prevents us from screwing the same things up again sometime in the future.
But the real issue is how often do we spend patting ourselves on the back? The research suggests not much time at all.
So go on. This New Year's Eve, toast those successes - little and large - from 2007. The time for setting goals will come soon enough. Bring the New Year in with a some well-earned celebrating.
But as we settle into that post-Christmas period that (in Australia at least) seems to involve post-Christmas Sales, watching sport on TV or live, and visits to the beach, many of us are girding our loins for what lies just around the corner in the New Year.
You know how it works. With a nice buzz about you on New Year's Eve from a taste of sparkling wine or three, we tumble into that cliched thinking of what our New Year's resolutions will be.
DON'T DO IT!
I know that I am a big fan of goal-setting, but for 2008 why don't we try a slightly different approach?
Instead of setting yourself some outrageous goal in a time of befuddled thinking, try instead to think back on all your successes in 2007.
That's right. As you sip that celebratory beverage and wait for the fireworks to explode into the night sky, do some celebrating of your own. List all of your great moments from 2007 and take a moment to savour them, celebrate them and even toast them.
Why would you want to do this?
Simply because most people (an overwhelming percentage) are their own best and worst critics.
Don't believe me? Think back now on all the times you have chastised or castigated yourself for some failing over the past year. That time when you didn't deliver the best result at work you could ... when you slacked off in a workout ... when you put off some chore or task ... when you said the wrong thing to your partner/friend/parent etc.
Chances are that on each of these occasions when you were thinking about what didn't go so well, you spent a fair amount of time critically analysing yourself - and in most cases, this is probably a good thing. It's what hopefully prevents us from screwing the same things up again sometime in the future.
But the real issue is how often do we spend patting ourselves on the back? The research suggests not much time at all.
So go on. This New Year's Eve, toast those successes - little and large - from 2007. The time for setting goals will come soon enough. Bring the New Year in with a some well-earned celebrating.
