Is Your Future Attainable?

Isn’t it exciting to walk further into your personal year with new challenges, new skills acquired from the previous year; and possibly, new friends. As is customary in any new year’s planning, many of us have made personal and professional resolutions for the future, ultimately functioning as internal promises. In fact, promises are the vehicles that can truly create the future. Sadly, many of these resolutions go unfulfilled all year long. Subsequently, we beat ourselves up for these unfulfilled resolutions such as, quitting smoking, losing weight, staying with a new exercise regimen, continuing professional education, and/or spending more time with the family.

Promises are not only the commitments we make to ourselves for future achievement; but, how we coordinate actions with others. If this is so, then why do many of these promises never become realtiy? There are components of promises that make them realizable, such as:
• Clarity in the initial generation and expected steps for achievement
• True description of the final outcome
• A specified time period for fulfillment
• Competency in skills of those to be involved for complete fulfillment
• Trust and sincerity on the part of all involved
• Flexibility along the road to achievement

If you have made promises to yourself or others for this year, examine them for practicable achievement. Ask yourself:

• How will this resolution (promise) bring meaningful change to your life?
• Are there exte
al resources you will need to help achieve this objective?
• If others are involved, what competency or skills do they need to have to help you?
• Is the time frame you’ve established truly reasonable for your lifestyle?
• What are your fallback plans in the event your pursuit does proceed exactly as planned?
• If this resolution is a larger community movement, are you certain you have the staying power for efforts this significant?
• How can you envision the changes to yourself, family, or the community along the way? What will accomplishment look like?
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
Anon