Analysis of 2009
Analysis of 2009 
2009 has been a busy year for me. I had to take on a full time contract to keep the wolf from the door, whilst also trying to keep Celtic Guru and Pareto Productivity going, continue writing my book on Productivity and continue studying for a diploma in Organisational Psychology! Oh and don’t forget I have three boys and a husband.
What I discovered over the last few weeks is that even though the President of the most powerful nation in the world works out six times a week I don’t have to! As a friend reminded me “He has lots of helpers!!” so if there aren’t enough hours in the day something has to give, no? Well health and family aren’t an option so how do we decide what has to be left aside? How do we prioritise when we have too much on our plate
With my top five goals for the year staring at me I start to see that finishing the first draft of my book no longer is going to happen, so I know I have to be realistic (the R of Smart Goals) and I admit that pushing out this goal to next year is not really going to have an effect on the overall big picture. Looking back I understand why some goals have not been realised, setting goals is great but setting unrealistic goals puts unnecessary pressure on you and sets you up for failure. But I am not going to dwell on the fact that some of my goals are incomplete and that I spent the year with unnecessary stress because of a goal that was never going to happen.
In 2009 I have learnt a lesson and I will set more realistic timeframes for 2010, and I can see that revisiting my goals regularly will help to see if they are realistic or not. Instead of being stubborn and waiting till the end of the year to admit that my goal is not going to happen I could have set a more realistic timeframe earlier, reduced my stress and achieved more by being more focused on the goals that were of higher priority.
My goal for completing my diploma this year was also a bit unrealistic, so instead I have a new goal to complete one assignment a month, this I know is realistic and achievable.
But what about the goals not achieved that were realistic? Hmm time to analyse why this is so, sticking to my meditation regime wasn’t as disciplined as I would have liked but looking back I can see the difference in my performance and attitude when meditation is part of my daily life so that’s back on the list for 2010. If your goals weren’t achieved for this year don’t dwell on the fact, have a good think about what was blocking you from achieving them and are there any changes you can make to things happen. Sometimes we set goals that we don’t really want or goals that we think we should have for ourselves but maybe not right for us. Like my burning desire to drive a mini clubman but having a family of three boys some say it may not be the right car for this time in my life!
It’s ok if all your goals haven’t been achieved but that is not to say you should not take them seriously, for each goal you set you must believe in its realisation and you must crave its acquisition. Goals are the driving force of human life without them we would be nothing, and with them everything is possible.
Ad Astra