2023 Here We Come

Do you have a process to achieve your “this year” goals?

I often say what everyone knows, “There are no secrets to success.” To be successful, one must match the necessary work ethic to the size of the goal. To put it another way, it’s always time to “Kick success’s a-- and take names.” Simple to say and understand but not so easy to implement the process.

For that reason, I continue to explore and pass on the ingredients for the implementation to achieve what one sets out to do. It’s an especially appropriate time of year to explain the secrets, just kidding, the means to the end, because many of us have recently set our New Year’s resolutions, and the execution of being better at reaching our ambitions is never more critical than at the year’s start.

2023 Resolutions

My 2023 resolutions are the same as they have been for the last few years, which is disappointing because one would think by now that I would have reached them. But as the great John Wooden said, “It's what you learn after knowing it all that counts." So true! Here are some of mine:

1.       Be a better husband

2.       Be a better dad

3.       Be a better grandfather

4.       Be a better sibling

5.       Be a better sports coach

6.       Be a better friend

7.       Be a better writer

8.       Be a better voice for freedom and justice

And on and on, but you get the point — I need to be better!

Change is Key

There are things on my side to help with that improvement, the most important being age. Age has given me many experiences to draw from to make the changes necessary to be who I want to be. But, of course, there are deterrents, too, with the top one being age. Haha. Age can be a hindrance because one’s past often has one set in their ways, and moving from that fixed position is not easy.

Another positive about the past is that it continually reminds me, “There is a way,” and it’s up to me to discover it and bring it home. But, the negative, the past is a reminder that nothing worth having comes easily and having enough inside to do it will take all I have. The battle of the past rages on.  

With the battle of age-positive versus age-negative beginning, the outcome remains to be seen. I hope it’s the first result because I hate to think of being so set in my ways that I fail to make the moves to change. I also hope I am not writing the same thing a year from now.

Change is the one thing that can help one in so many ways because it provides the challenge to look forward to each day, which takes the mundaneness out of the daily routine. I recently read that the avenue to not making the years seem to fly by is continually having new things on the agenda and to look forward to, so creative planning and getting a little beyond one’s comfort zone is necessary. Therefore, I will run a marathon a month and fly to the moon. Kidding, as our goals must be realistic, too.

Success Strategy Process

So, with that as a backdrop, here is my plan for winning each day, and winning more days means 2023 will be all that I want it to be:

1.       Set goals that challenge me to improve with an emphasis on including and benefiting others.
 

2.       Take no days off from following my plans to achieve the objectives, knowing each day is an opportunity to move me closer to reaching my dreams.

3.       Have a “fighter’s mentality” — one of believing in victory by having the willingness to “find a way” and “pay the price.”

4.       Read about those who have overcome the odds with daring and bravery, so I will be inspired to keep on through the inevitable self-doubt.

5.       Get in the zone with a concentration level reserved for a winner when the ordinary doesn’t cut it, which is how I want to look at myself.

6.       Maintain a healthy life perspective; knowing an optimistic frame of mind pushes the odds of completion in my favor.

7.       Always being open to change when it is obvious it will improve my chances and then implementing the adjustments to the best of my ability.

8.       Look for the joy in the process, no matter how difficult, and close it out with the enthusiasm of my first day in the major leagues.

 

There you go — easy peasy, no sweat, a pushover, a cakewalk, kid’s stuff, like riding a bike - 2023 will be “the year of years,” or not, as life has a way of throwing that nasty curveball, but it’s what we signed up for when waking each day, and it beats not waking.

As I wish you luck for a great new year of striving to be your best self, I do the same for myself, as I know “same old, same old” is a worthy opponent. Happy trails!