We’re well into the new year, and if you’re like most people, you’ve already abandoned your New Year’s Resolutions. But it’s not too late to make them–or any goal you have–a reality!
In this article, I’m giving YOU the strategy and planning framework Paul and I use in both our business and our personal lives to get results that exceed our expectations year after year!
Before we dive into this framework, let’s cover three goal-setting mistakes almost everyone makes, so you don’t take them with you into the framework!
Mistake #1: “I hope I can do it”
Let’s say one of your goals for 2022 is to make $50,000 extra in cash by April 15.
Once the goal is set, a lot of people start “hoping.” As in, “Boy, I hope I can make this happen.”
Saying you “hope” you can make it happen sets you up for failure… because hoping is NOT enough. Hoping is like crossing your fingers and leaving it to outside circumstances to fall into place.
You need a strategic plan, and the will to follow it, to get the outcomes you want. Without a strategic plan, your level of UNCERTAINTY goes up, and your results go way down. The result is tremendous levels of stress, and your focus falls away.
When we really MAP out the process, on the other hand, we shift from uncertainty to CLARITY, because all you have to do to get your result is implement your strategic plan. (More on that later)
Mistake #2: Focusing on the lack
Let’s go back to our example goal of making $50,000 in cash by April 15, and let’s say, in this example, you have $10,000 in the bank.
By focusing on that $50,000 you want, what you’re really doing is focusing on the fact you don’t have it yet. That’s a problem, because when you focus on the lack of anything, you get more lack.
I’ve experienced this a lot, and I’m sure you have, too, including in your relationships. When you’re focused on everything your partner’s NOT doing, you see it everywhere, don’t you? When you want your partner to be more understanding, all you notice are the ways they’re not being understanding. You’re accidentally focusing on what you don’t have!
Mistake #3: Watch your language
No, I’m not talking about swearing. I’m talking about your language around the outcomes you want.
In our example, you have a thought or a belief that you want $50,000 by April 15, but you also constantly complain about having to pay bills, or not having the cash to pay bills.
When your words aren’t congruent with your belief that you can generate another $50,000 in cash for your family by April 15, you’re unknowingly sabotaging your will and ability to create those results. Every time you speak out something that’s counterintuitive to your goal, you’re confirming to yourself that you don’t have it. It’s accidental self-brainwashing! Always make sure your words MATCH your outcome.
What to do instead
Now that we’ve covered what not to do with your goals, let’s talk about what ACTUALLY works!
Believe it or not, achieving your 2022 goals starts with last year, and a strategy called Groundhog’s Day. It’s based on the Bill Murray movie, where he gets caught in a Groundhog’s Day and repeats the same day over and over.
One of our mentors taught this to Paul and I years ago, and we’ve used it every year since to make every year better than the last. Here’s how the Groundhog’s Day strategy works.
First, grab a big piece of paper. It can be a whiteboard or a journal page. It just needs to be big.
Then, draw four columns on your piece of paper, and give them these labels, in this order: What worked, what didn’t work, Groundhog’s Day, and automate and systemize.
What we do in this process is what Bill Murray did in the movie. He practices the same day over and over, until he makes it the best possible Groundhog’s Day it can be.
That’s what we want to do here: Look back at what worked and what didn’t, and knowing what we know now, use that information to make this year as amazing as it can possibly be.
In column one, the “what worked” column, capture as many things as you can that worked for you last year. If Unshakeable Love and Unleashed Passion are your goals for this year, capture what you did last year in your relationship that worked. If your goal is an extra $50,000 in cash, look at what worked financially for you last year.
Next, in column two, write down what didn’t work! Record those learning opportunities and lessons!
Now, in column three, do your Groundhog’s Day. Take something that didn’t work, and brainstorm how you can make it better.
Let’s say you hired someone in your business, or took a trip with your family and it was a disaster. Or maybe you haven’t been able to align with your partner on money, healthy eating, or how to raise the kids.
Look at each of the situations that didn’t work, and ask yourself, “If I had that to do all over again, knowing what I now know, what would I do differently in order to get the results I really want?” Write your solutions down in the Groundhog’s Day column.
In the fourth and final column, automate and systemize, look at each of your Groundhog’s Day solutions and ask, “How can I systemize or automate these things, so that the result I want is baked into how things get done next time?”
This is a process Paul and I do after every live event, after every project, after every program we launch–everything we do. Our whole team gets together and we do the Groundhog Day process!
It’s so important to look at what you’ve already done, learn from it, and create a strategic plan to do better. If you don’t anchor-in what works well, and if you don’t solve what didn’t work well, you’re flying blind, instead of creating the predictable results you want!
If Unshakeable Love and Unleashed Passion are on your goal list for this year, start by doing the Groundhog’s Day process with your relationship last year.
Look at what worked and what didn’t. Then, knowing what you now know, create new solutions. Finally, look at how you can make them happen automatically, instead of hoping they happen, focusing on the fact you don’t have them, or saying things that don’t align with the results you want.
Whether it’s changing your relationship or reaching some other goal, you won’t get it by doing what you’ve always done, or flying by the seat of your pants.
You’ll get it by showing up DIFFERENTLY. Use the Groundhog’s Day process to show you where, and how, to show up differently, and create the result you want!
If you’d like more tools and strategies to create predictable results you actually want in your relationship, and every part of your life, get started at www.RelationshipTransformers.com!
