2016: Succeeding or Stagnating?

Can you believe it's already April 25th? The days are getting longer, the weather is warmer and we are quickly approaching the halfway mark of 2016.

How has this year been shaping up for you so far?

If you set goals or resolutions at the beginning of the year, are you on your way to completing them?
Have you already achieved some of them?
Or have you started to run out of steam and motivation?
Are you neglecting your goals?
Have you dropped them altogether?

If you are on track with your 2016 goals, good on you. Keep up the good work!

If you’re not on track with your goals, if you're feeling behind, stuck or stagnant, this post is for you.

While spring is usually seen as marker of new beginnings, it’s also a shoulder season, an in-between time of year, a limbo period. Is there any better time to re-evaluate the goals you set at the beginning of the year? I think not! It's the perfect second chance to look at what you want do accomplish this year and get back on track.

Before we dive into what's not working for you, I'm going to quickly recap the information in my goal-setting posts from December:

Decide on your intention word for 2016 (ex: balance). This represents your overall desire for the year.
Choose three to five core desired feelings for 2016 (ex: creative, excited, successful, vulnerable, love). These represent how you want to feel on a daily basis this year.
Discover your top 10 personal core values (Ex: integrity, humour, love, responsibility, etc...).
Set pull goals rather than push goals, resolutions or “should” goals.
Make sure your goals are SMART goals.

If you haven't had the chance to complete the above exercises, I really encourage you to go through them before proceeding any further. They will give more meaning to your goals, provide you with added motivation, enhance your process and set you up to succeed. Not having done this portion of the goal setting may be the reason why you aren't moving forward.

If you have completed the above exercises, let's look at each goal you set for yourself individually. Consider your first goal, and ask yourself the following questions:

What is stopping me from pursuing my goal?
If I’m having a hard time getting motivated, do I really want to achieve this? I mean really really?
Is this truly a pull goal? Or is it on my list because I think it should make me happy or maybe because I'll be relieved when it's done?
Is it a SMART goal? How will I be able to identify that I've achieved it?
Is this goal aligned with my personal core values and intention for 2016?
Will it bring me my core desired feelings?

Once you've answered these questions, if you still want to pursue the goal, here are a few more questions to get you moving forward again:

Do I need to modify my goal? Or replace it with something else? If yes, what?
What are some ideas for overcoming the obstacles and challenges in my path?
What do I need in order to re-inspire myself to move towards my goals for 2016 and my dreams for my life?

When you finish this process, go back through it for each of the goals you set for 2016. If you're feeling overwhelmed at the end, ask yourself:

Am I taking on too many goals at once?

If your answer is yes, it will be important for you to focus on one at a time.

Here are a few additional tips to consider when you are re-evaluating your goals for this year:

Think about how you want to feel at the end of the year, when you're looking back at 2016. What is going to get you to the feeling you want to have as 2017 begins?
Focus on one goal at a time. Direct all your energy in one direction. Once you’ve achieved your first goal, then move on to the second one. One thing at a time.
Do one thing per day that evokes at least one of your core desired feelings.
Do your best to align your actions, behaviours, habits and thinking patters with your personal core values and core desired feelings.
If you feel you keep falling off the wagon, just keep climbing on it again. Don’t overthink, just act.

If you’ve dropped your goals for the year, please know you haven’t failed. You have simply chosen to do something else with your time and energy. There is still plenty of time this year to get back on track and achieve what you would love to do before next year. Don't think too much, just do!

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