Tag Archives: Resolutions

Are you one of the 47 percent?

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We are a couple of weeks into the New Year and I know some of you are still getting around to setting those resolutions. As I said in an earlier post, ” New Year’s Resolutions are a Wast of Time” I do not set resolutions I set up a plan for the year that has my top goals. Well, I guess I am not the only one that doesn’t set goals resolutions anymore. According to a recent survey by the Opinion Research Corp. only 45 percent of Americans now say they make New Year’s resolutions, which is down from 88 percent from the past. At first thought I was thinking maybe they read my post and have decided to turn over a new leaf and start setting up goals and a plan for the new year. Nope, the study goes on to say that people just don’t set them anymore because they are tired of hurting themselves and call the whole thing off. Pretty sad if you ask me but I am not really all that shocked about the finding. The survey had some other interesting findings but one in particular stood out to me. The one that stuck out in my mind was that 47 percent of those responded to the survey said, ” they will set a resolution related to their head” (i.e, a self improvement goal). Now maybe because I love self improvement but this was encouraging to me. So, today I want to ask you, do you fall into the 47 percent category?

I hope you answered yes to the question above, because if you want more out of life or career you have to become more. I learned that from the great Jim Rohn. What happens to most of us is, we get so caught up with all the daily nuances we neglect working on becoming a better person. I know for me I need to work on time management and finishing projects I start. I get so caught up with new ideas that I let projects go unfinished. I have made that a goal of mine this year and I hope by the end of the year I can look back and say I became better.

What is it that you need to get better at? Maybe it is time management or maybe organization skills. Whatever it is, make it one of your goals this year to get better at, because I can promise you this, if you work harder on yourself you can become more and be more!

Well, I am off to D.C. for the weekend to attend a good friend’s wedding. I just love going to our Nation’s Capitol, because it always reminds of how great it is to live in the best country in the world.I will be back next week with some more inspiring stuff, so until then, make it a great weekend!

Coach Dave

Dave McGarry’s 2011 Goals

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Wow, I did not realize that I would have had such a response from my post yesterday but I appreciate all the feedback. Anyway, as I was saying yesterday I do not set resolutions but set goals for the year. Also, I said that I would be sharing my goals for the 2011 fiscal year and I will later this week but today I want to share with you the process I go through in case you would like to set up goals instead of resolutions. Below you will see the process.

The first thing I do when I set my goals for the year is, I break them up into specific categories. The following categories are the ones I use. Feel free to use all these for your goals or pick 4 or 5 to start with.

  • Business
  • Financial
  • Physical
  • Mental
  • Spiritual
  • Relationships
  • Family
  • Lifestyle

Now, I go through each catagory and come up with four goals for each one. From there, I then go through the list and pick my top ten goals for the year. Next to each goal I mark the corresponding symbol from each category.  Ex.) If I say work out 4x a week, I mark a (P) next to the goal. I do this for each of the ten I listed.

Once I have my top ten and they are marked with the corresponding symbol, I then go back and look to see which areas I am focusing more on and make sure that sits well with want I really want to accomplish for the year. Sometime it will take me a few drafts to get my goals refined but it is well worth it in the end. If you are new to goal setting don’t get overwhelmed by it. These are your goals, so just start by setting some up and you can always go back later and change them, which I will be writing about later this year.  If you are stuck and want more info on how I do this send me an email and I will help you out.

Coming up part 2 of Dave McGarry’s 2011 Goals. I will be reveiling my goals for the year! See you then!

Coach Dave

New Year’s Resolutions is a waste of time

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It is the 3rd of January and most of you may have already broke your New Year’s Resolutions. I am not trying to be negative or a Debbie Downer but the reality is, most people who set New Year’s Resolutions never see them through more than a few weeks. The reason I believe is simple. You see, when you set a resolution you only have one part of the equation and are missing the second and most powerful part to making the resolution stick. Today, I will give you the second part of the equation and this time around setting a New Year’s resolution will not be a waste of time.

Several years ago I decided that I was done setting New Year’s resolutions. I came to the realization that I, like everyone else, fall into the same trap and dismal disappointment of falling back into my bad habits. This got me thinking to myself, why is it that some people seem to have more success than others when it comes to achieving something that they set out to do. Well, being that I love to study successful people I came to the conclusion that, successful people do not set resolutions but set high goals for themselves. Now, you may be saying to yourself, “what is the difference between a New Year’s resolution and a goal?” Well, this is where the second part of the equation comes in. Goals typically have a “why” behind it, as where resolutions, in my opinion only have a “need to stop doing something” in it. Sure, you want to quit eating out to lose weight, but why do you want to lose weight? By defining “why”, you give yourself a strong reason for changing a behavior. I know you still are saying, “well I had that in my head as the reason for my resolution.” Good, but goals need to be written down and need to be set up in such a way that you have it specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (S.M.A.R.T Goals).

Now if you have bought into my theory of setting goals,instead of resolutions, here is what I want you to do next.

First, I want you to write down ten things you want to accomplish this year.
Second, I want you to write down below it why you want to accomplish it.
Finally, set a time table as to when to accomplish it.

I will be sharing with you some of my 2011 goals this week. Until then, get rid of the theory of setting New Year’s resolutions and start setting up S.M.A.R.T goals for this upcoming year!

To your Success,
Coach Dave

I Quit

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We are in the first week of March and by now almost 90% of people who made New Year’s resolutions have either quit or are about to on those resolutions they made back in early January. Why? Well, to be honest it is just extremely difficult to keep disciplined day in and day out. The daily pressures and just plain life stuff gets in our way and prevents us from staying focused. The other big reason for failure is due to the lack of mental toughness. Mental toughness is probably one of the most difficult skills to master, but if you master the ability to control your thoughts and to stay mentally tough you can succeed in almost anything.

I first became aware of what mental toughness was all about last summer when I was reading the book titled “Lone Survivor.” The book is about the story of Marcus Lutrell and his life as a Navy Seal. It was through reading this book and the story of what it takes to be a Navy Seal that gave me insight into what mental toughness is all about. You see, what I took away from  the book  is that physical ability is a big part of actually becoming a Navy Seal but more than anything they are looking to see who has real mental toughness and who is going to quit! As one instructor says, “If they quit here in training they are more likely to quit when things get tough out in battle.” And, this brings me back to why people fail at their goals.

All to often when things get busy or really challenging we quit and once that happens we rationalize to ourself that, well I guess there is always next month or next year to reach that goal. Now, I use the example of  the mental toughness it takes to be a Navy Seal and I know that 99.9% of us will never have that ability to stay as mentally  tough as a Navy Seal,  but there are some simple strategies that you can implement into your life to help you get tougher mentally.

1.) Quit listening to the news and all the negative stories that they report on. Listen, it is so easy to fall into the trap of listening and hearing all the negative news that is out there and with that comes the weakening of your thoughts.

2.) Read positive and motivational books and quotes daily!

3.) Quit hanging around with people who are negative and do not 100% support what you want to accomplish.

4.) Understand that you will not always have great days but when days are tough have written down on a piece of paper your big “Why”. What I am talking about is the why do you want to achieve a specific goal. For me my big “why” is I want to have financial freedom and live life on my terms. Define your big “why” and every time you are feeling down pull that  piece of paper out and read it over and over until you change your thoughts and get re-focused.

These four strategies are just the beginning to the start of your mental toughness. Practice these and you will be on your way to stopping the “I Quit” words out of your mouth and start reaching those goals!