A Call to Action: Resolving the Resolution

When it comes to planning out one’s day, list making is a regular habit for most. The action of simply jotting down the week’s grocery list or leaving a thoughtful set of “honey do’s” is common practice. Therefore, it’s easy to accept the notion, that list-making and daily planning of the most mundane events is a part of our everyday lives. So, why is it with all this earmarking and bullet pointing, that the concept of personal goal setting is not daily practice in our society? Despite how important—and easy—it is, very few people write down their goals. Without goals many people find themselves sitting stagnant and without direction. After all, a boat cannot soar without sails, or make wakes without a rudder. Fortunately for our society, a noteworthy and exceptional list-making time is upon us--New Year’s; the new decade, 2010, full of promise and possibility. Full of lists and resolutions. So why not add to those “honey do’s” and pile on a new aisle of needs and wants for yourself and your family? Why not create personal goals, this year? Why not, put them in writing? Because so few of us ever actually write our goals on paper, or apply the goal setting process properly, many of us fail in our resolutions. This is hard to accept, as all studies show one thing: the most important result generated from goal setting research is that it clearly and consistently facilitates performance. You have to simply transpose your vision to something practicable to make it effectual. Hence the list. Put it to action! As Henry David Thoreau was able to note 150 years ago, "I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor." 150 years later Sports Psychologists and Industrial Organizational Psychologists have recognized the exact same thing, goal setting when done properly, works. Why is it that so few of us sit down and set our goals? Why do we stray from putting it on paper? Are we scared we will hold ourselves accountable for such possibilities of success? Or perhaps it is because we don't know how. We don’t know where to start. What is our call to action? "I don't ever remember taking a goal setting course in high school or college," states Sam Johnson, President of ALC. "Maybe it is because people don’t realize the rewards they could reap if they simply sat down and wrote out their goals. Or, maybe some people just put it off; it is easy to dissuade an aspiration. It’s as easy any procrastination-no different from skipping the gym, canceling lunch with our grandparents, or starting a diet. If we could get this process put into motion and practiced at the high school level it would be a fantastic tool to give our children—the tools for success and accountability. Every generation should be awarded these powerful assets, because one day they lead and take charge. To be able to inspire, you must aspire."