Today is the first day of the rest of your life

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

 

Every day, each of us has the choice to continue as we’re going, or to do something new that will take us closer to making our dreams come true.

There is nothing like the annual arrival of the New Year to prompt us to reflect on the past and motivate us to dream about our future.

 

With the arrival of the New Year I began my annual list of goals for the next twelve months. It is an easy list to begin because it always includes a few standard goals that I make every year like: Be a Better Parent; Learn a New Skill, Save and Invest Money; Get Fit and Eat Healthy Food (read: lose festive season weight gain); Plan Excellent Adventure to Somewhere New…

Once I have my stock standard goals down then it’s time for the nitty gritty… what do I want to be when I grow up and what do I need to do to achieve this?

 

I think I’ve pondered these two questions since I was about eleven years old and here I am heading into my 42^nd year and I’m still pondering them…. at least I can say with confidence that I am now through the wanting to be an astronaut phase.

 

Along the winding pathway of my life so far, I have experienced lots of different occupations in my quest to discover what I want to be when I grow up: trail riding assistant at a holiday ranch; nanny; jillaroo; student at business college; telesales person (a short-lived career…I lasted one night); waitress in Lygon Street; mail/fax clerk for stockbrokers in Collins Street; contract musterer; tourist officer; mother (an ongoing career); fencing contractor; investor; supervisor for a work-for-the-dole project; Austswim instructor; book-keeper. I love and get a lot of satisfaction out of my current careers: being a mother, remedial massage therapist and columnist for The Bridge.

 

When it comes to achieving goals you are far more likely to succeed if you take the time to actually write your goals down on paper. Not only does this force you to think clearly about what you really want; the simple act of writing your goals down frees up your mind to work on solutions on how you are going to get there.

 

Striving for new goals can also be daunting and often generates fear and anxiety. Stepping out into new territory can be unsettling and will hold most of us back most of the time until either someone gives us a push or we push ourselves. It can be helpful to remember that indecision and procrastination feeds fear. Whenever I feel stuck I remind myself that action cures fear.

 

Happy goal achieving in 2012.