Fela Durotoye - THE S.M.A.R.T WAY OF LIFE IN 2010

THE S.M.A.R.T WAY OF LIFE IN 2010

Happy New Year!

Are you stuck in a rut concerning making and breaking New Year Resolutions?

I've got some ideas... it's called the SMART WAY OF LIFE.

It seems like a fitting way to begin this blog as I share with you my thoughts for the year as they come to me.

Is there anything that you thought by now you would’ve achieved or accomplished, but haven’t? I’m certain there are quite a few. Perhaps you can point to many reasons why you weren’t able to achieve them; but may I suggest that perhaps it wasn’t a goal in the first place?

We start the New Year with resolutions; grand ideas of what we desire the year to be; full of accomplishments and laudable achievements, but fast forward a few months, and those resolutions are unceremoniously thrown out of the window as we lose the steam we began the year with. Sound familiar? Many times, we know the goal we wish to achieve, but what we don’t realize is the part that we have to play in reaching that goal. Desire is NOT enough! No goal is achieved just by the desire to have the goal, there must be corresponding action.

So if you’d let me, I’d like to share some secrets that will enable you achieve your goals in 2010.
Are you ready to achieve some goals? Let’s go!

You must be able to separate wishes from goals. Wishes emanate from what I call the “nice to have” zone. Wishes are things that we would like to come to pass, nice to have, but we won’t be hurt or disappointed if they don’t happen. “Nice to have” goals don’t usually come to pass; but goals come from the “need to have” zone. Your goals must come with a sense of urgency and importance and will hurt you if they don’t happen. Let’s move on!

Would you consider these as goals? “I’d like to be rich”, “I’d like to be happy” or “I’d like to have a better marriage”? They aren’t goals, they’re just nice wishes. Your goals must be “S.M.A.R.T” which is an acronym for (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Time Bound). Allow me to explain.

Let’s come up with a SMART goal.

Your Goal: to lose 10 kg and be 75kg by December 31, 2010.

As you can see, this goal is Specific (we know exactly how much weight we wish to lose, what our desired weight is and when it must be achieved – any dream that doesn’t have a deadline is DEAD). Next, it must be Measurable (what do we weigh now, how often will we measure our progress), because it’s not only important to decide to START certain things, e.g. (lose weight or join a gym), you must also decide to STOP certain things as well e.g. (stop taking ice cream or coke every day, stop eating after 7pm etc). A lot of goals have died prematurely, simply because we didn’t recognize what our part in the fulfillment of the vision was and what we needed to stop doing as well.

Your goal must be Achievable (it must have the capacity to be actualized, but yet inspire you to keep on reaching). If your goal doesn’t inspire you to action, it’s just a mirage. I can tell how much you want something by what you’re willing to do to get it (need I add, legally) and what you’re willing to get it. The next step is that it must be Realistic (it’s got to be do-able) and finally, it has to be Time Bound (have a specific timeline, in this case, December 31, 2010). It must have a start and a stop to it.

There you have it, steps to achieving your goal. But have you ever wondered why some people not only achieve their goals like you do, but they seem to “super achieve”? Then read on!

Having evolved our SMART acronym, your goals must be: (Stretching, Meaningful, Attractive, Respectable & Tantalizing). I’m not merely playing with words, let me explain.

Great goals must Stretch you. Goals that are easy to achieve are not inspiring. A stretch goal must be one that causes you to feel that you have what it takes, causes you to feel that it’s possible, if you gave a little bit more, tried a little harder or did a little bit more. Next, your goal must be Meaningful (it shouldn’t be all about you; super achievers are concerned about the impact of their goals on others; it must have the power to inspire others to commit to the goal). Your goal must also be Attractive (your goal must give others the opportunity to use their strength, talents or skill to accomplish something great). Next, your goal must be Respectable (it must earn the respect of others by the significance of its impact) and finally, your goal must be Tantalizing (it’s got to make your mouth water, the thought of accomplishing it must be inspiring).

But wait a second; what we’ve dealt with so far is what your goal must be. It’s imperative to know what your goal will require!

Still running with our SMART acronym, your goals must require Strategy, Milestones, Action, Resources & a Team. Any goal without strategy is dead! Strategy deals with the “how to” of your goal. Next you’ve got to break it into Milestones (small, easy to achieve steps that help you feel like a winner e.g. join a gym, jog once a week). Next, take Action! No one gets a prize for what they intend to do, only for what they get done. Intention never gets rewarded, only action does. So get to work!

Next, you must identify the Resources necessary to achieve your great goals. Resources include time (what you don’t give time to will die), talents (your skill set and ability), thoughts (the ability to fo
cus on your goal. Focus is the ability to limit your distractions to one thing). Finally, you must have a Team or a support group of people who complete or complement you, but don’t compete with you. Don’t just get people you can work with, get people you can’t do without! In order to this, your team must be able to find themselves, their dreams, passions and fulfillment in your goal. Even God said in the beginning; “Let US make man….” He couldn’t do it alone. We all need someone.

So in 2010, I recommend that you set multi-faceted LIFESTYLE goals along the 7 dimensions of life e.g. (physical, emotional, relational, societal, professional, financial and spiritual) e.g. Physical goals could be to exercise 3 days a week, walk every Saturday; your emotional goals could be to read a book a month or listen to that inspirational DVD you bought at the store 3 weeks ago; but haven’t gotten round to listening to yet. Set professional goals for your career (people who set promotion goals always outperform those that have no career goals). Your relational goals could be to invest in more friendships, spend more time with your kids or call your parents more. Your societal goals could be to sponsor 3 children who should be in school, but can’t afford their fees. Set savings and investment goals for your finances while your spiritual goals could be to pray an hour a day (if not at a stretch, but 15minutess after you wake, 15 minutes driving to work, read a chapter of the Scriptures a day etc).

I hope these few secrets will prove invaluable to you in this New Year as you use them.

And as you square up against the opposition of gloom, after you have dribbled all the obstacles that came your way, picked up a yellow card for un-sportsman like conduct, penetrated the defence of previous impossibility, probably got brought down a few times on your way to the 6 yard box of accomplishment; as you take the penalty, square your shoulders, place your shot, take aim and FIRE and celebrate as you see the ball hurtle into the net, and you hear the stadium reverberate and listen to the capacity crowd sing with one voice; “IT’S A GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL”!!!!!

I can’t wait to celebrate your success as you have a fantastic 2010.

DELIVER THE FUTURE. YOU CAN. YOU MUST. YOU WILL!

FD

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