Subscribe ( RSS | Email )

31,200 People Subscribed

Photo by bingbing

7 Essential Tips to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt

As I reflected on this past year, I realized that 2007 has been perhaps my best year ever. It’s funny, because that’s what I thought about 2006, but my years seem to be getting better and better.

And so I reflected on what made these past two years so great, and how I could leverage these successes for even further improvement. I’d like to share some things I’ve learned about the past two (very great) years, and how you might be able to use them to make this next year your greatest year yet.

1. One goal. This will sound crazy to many of you who have so many goals you’d like to accomplish. And trust me, I know how that feels. I started out 2007 with a whole bunch of goals, but I only accomplished about half of them. I didn’t realize how things would change for me during the year, and anyway, 9 goals is too many.

I’ve said this before, but it’s so important I’m going to repeat it: you’re at your most powerful if you focus on one thing at a time. If you have 10 goals, you’ll spread your focus thinly. But if you have one goal, you’ll be able to focus you energy and attention completely on that one goal. And that’s one of the secrets of success.

You might have 10 goals to achieve for your lifetime. If so, choose just one to accomplish this year. And focus completely on that this year. You might have shorter-term sub-goals to achieve in a month or two, but those should lead to your One Goal for 2008.

Put your goal on your wall, on you computer desktop. Make it your mantra. Keep it your focus for 2008, and you’ll not only achieve it, but you’ll feel great for doing so.

2. Create a new habit. In 2006, when my goal was to run a marathon, I built up the daily habit of running. That habit led to my goal. When my goal became to grow my blog in 2007, I developed the daily habit of blogging. Goals are achieved by habits. What habit can you develop this month to help achieve your One Goal for this year?

Once you’ve identified that goal, you’ll need to commit yourself, hold yourself accountable to a group of people, and focus completely on that habit for a month. I recommend the Zen Habits January Challenge. It’s the perfect way to create a habit and lead to the achievement of your One Goal.

I also plan to write more about creating habits in the next week or two, so stay tuned.

The journey of thousand miles starts with a single step. – Chinese Proverb

3. Take action now. It’s all good and well to set goals or resolutions, but the best plans are worthless if you don’t act on them. Action is everything. Take action today to make your goal come true. Tomorrow, take another action. In fact, take one action toward your One Goal every day, first thing in the day, and make it the most important thing you do every day. If you do that, there’s almost no way that you won’t achieve that goal.

The actions can be small things: making a list, making a call, doing some research (”find five possible venues for the conference”). But take action.

4. Simplify. As you might have figured out by now, I’m all about simplicity. So this will sound redundant. But if you take the time to simplify your life, in some way, this month, your year will be much better. When we have too much going on in our lives, it overwhelms us. It spreads us thin. It makes us ineffective. Simplifying things helps keep us sane, and makes us more powerful. Take some time to identify the 4-5 things that are most important in your life, then simplify your commitments (and goals and to-do list) so that they fall in line with those 4-5 priorities. More.

5. Focus on happiness. It sounds corny, but if you make your happiness become your focus, you’ll be happier. It’s really that simple (or at least, it has been for me). What makes you happy? That should be the focus of your life. This year, make happiness be your priority. Then do the things necessary to make it a reality. Some tips.

6. Schedule time for you, and your loved ones. If these two things are in your top 4-5 important things (see above), you might consider revising the list. At least one thing on your short list of 4-5 things should be something you love to do. At least one other should be spending time in some way with people you love to spend time with. For me, that’s my wife and kids, and running and reading and writing. Actually, that sentence describes my entire short list: spend time with family, read, write, and run. Everything else is superfluous.

Spending time with yourself, doing something you love to do, will give you time for reflection. It will make you happier, and give you time to decompress. Don’t have time? Make time.

Spending time with loved ones, connecting with them, is in my opinion absolutely essential to happiness. Make it a priority.

7. Learn to focus. This goes back to what was said above about One Goal and simplifying, but it’s important not only on those macro levels, but on a day-to-day basis as well. It’s easy to get caught up in things that come our way, in the daily crises that derail our plans, in distractions and email and phone calls and Twitter. Very easy. If you allow yourself to lose focus, you’ll have a very difficult time accomplishing your goals.

To make this your best year ever, learn to focus. Make it one of your monthly habits. Start by identifying your One Goal and your 4-5 priorities. Then, every day, focus yourself on those things. Each morning (or the night before), make a list of the 3 Most Important Things (MITs) that you want to accomplish today. Then start on the first one, first thing, instead of getting distracted by email or any of the other things that take away your attention. Shut everything off except what you need for that task. Clear your desk and turn off the phone and any notifications on your computer. Then focus on that one thing, trying your utmost to complete the task.

When you’re done, take a break and reward yourself. Then focus on the next task. Working like this, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.

We are all of us living in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. - Oscar Wilde

More great posts elsewhere on making this year great:

If you liked this article, please bookmark it on del.icio.us or vote for it on Digg. I’d appreciate it. :)

Comments (47)

Gravatar

Goal Setting College Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 21:37 pm

Hey Leo, I absolutely attest to your 1 goal theory! Because even though we tend to look at each goal on it’s own at a microlevel, it’s actually made up of smaller subtasks that can be overwhelming when really broken down into fine details. Just imagine having 10 goals with 20 subtasks each. Wow.

In my opinion, it’s not the quantity that counts. It’s quality. Spend more time brainstorming on that goal that you’ll absolutely must accomplish and when you’re done, you’ll find that different areas of your life will improve as well.

Been there, done that!

Cheers
Ellesse

Gravatar

Andrew G Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 22:20 pm

Great tips Leo. Please keep them coming!

-Andrew

Gravatar

Joshua Clanton Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 22:43 pm

This makes perfect sense to me, especially the One Goal. I’ve always dislike New Year’s resolutions because I instinctively realized that I wouldn’t actually follow through if I came up with a big list of things to do. I do very well if I have one thing to focus on, though.

Gravatar

Nez Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 22:53 pm

And There was One Goal to Rule Them All…

Thanks for such an insightful post — your blog has such truly inspiring posts, so much so that I’ve started one myself, with my goal to make it complement all the other great blogs out there.

Gravatar

Mike Pedersen - New Year's Resolutions Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 23:37 pm

Leo, I’m big on number 3! Without it nothing happens. No goals are met. No motivation continued. More people need to act rather than rationalize everything to death.

Gravatar

Shelvia Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 0:08 am

… and this is why I can’t stop reading your posts. You somehow are always able to provide the simplest tips that actually works. :)
Thanks Leo! Awesome post (again!!!)

Gravatar

Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 0:58 am

I love the idea of focusing on one goal at a time. Last year, my number one goal was to publish my first book. Everything I did hinged on that. Telling my best friend about my plans kept me accountable and ultimately helped me succeed. Your advice really is powerful!

Gravatar

Marley Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 4:33 am

Great post Leo - if you keep saying it I might start to believe you!

Gravatar

schoash Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 5:48 am

I love #7. Will give it a try.
Great article btw

Gravatar

Lodewijkvdb Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 8:12 am

I learned the hard way that having too many goals will make you less productive. And besides that it also takes the fun out of accomplishing the goals you have, because there are so many others left unaccomplished or even overdue.

The most important thing I’ve learned from you in 2007 is simplifying, Leo. And I’m grateful for that. I love simplifying, it makes it all so clear :-)

Gravatar

WellnessAid Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 8:19 am

Balance your life. This is the most important rule of truly making your life better. Identify the most important areas of your life (work, family, health practices, etc.) Pay attention to simple things and see the difference between means and ends. This secret of happiness was known already by Ancient Greeks but we are so easily distracted to minute things and forget it. Happy New Year to all!
___
How often do you feel unwell?
It’s too often…

http://www.wellnessaid.com

Gravatar

JEMi Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 9:54 am

for me, #2 Creating A New Habit really hits home. In structuring a new, powerful life for myself, I want certain things ingrained in my routines

thanks for this list and a very Happy New Year to you! :)

Gravatar

jpickett1968 Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 10:20 am

For me, simply focusing on this blog is a high priority goal for me this year. I’ve fallen victim to the majority thought process that you have to be doing everything all the time. Having followed GTD (75% level) for the past year, it’s time to weed things out, focus and re-examine my life.

Leo - keep up these great insights!

Gravatar

Jessica Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 11:52 am

Although you set one goal for the year — running a marathon or posting every day to your blog — you managed to accomplish much more than that. You established a healthier lifestyle, you published an ebook, your blog efforts brought you closer to your financial goals. So your single focus brought you success on many of your goals really. You continue to be an inspiration to me on so many fronts.

In the last year my husband and I both started new full time jobs, moved across the continental U.S. from the west coast to east coast (with our toddler), bought a new house and sold the old one, remodeled much of the new one, and had another baby, among other things. I set the bar low on other personal goals last year because I had no time.

When I go to your making time post, I know that I will have to wait to follow many of your tips. I already work from home. I go to daycare at lunch to nurse my 5-month-old. He is still not sleeping through the night, so the idea of getting up an hour earlier makes me want to cry.

At the top of my list of goals this year, however, is finding time for reflection and also getting back into shape. I know I have no time for any exercise when the boys are at daycare during the workday. Lunchtime is for visiting daycare. The only time is when they are asleep. When they are home I want to spend the time with them. So yesterday I bought an old treadmill from someone on craigslist. I will start at 10 minutes a day. And I will also use this time to reflect. This year is focused on self care, reflection and finding the time for them.

Gravatar

Etavitom Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 12:06 pm

Thanks for the wise tips. 2008 is the year to make it happen!

Gravatar

SpiKe Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 12:34 pm

Yes to taking action now (one of my top productivity tips)! First thing you do in the morning, work on your resolutions/habit building. Get the hard work out of the way before the procrastination kicks in and you start putting it off.

Gravatar

ShaunMac Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 12:42 pm

Hi Leo,

I really enjoy your blog and read it everyday. The proverb you listed above about a journey of 1000 miles beginning with a single step reminds me of a quote I had up in my lesson room when I taught guitar which said, “At one point, even Jimi Hendrix couldn’t play guitar.”

Gravatar

Patti Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 13:15 pm

Just like item #1, I have chosen only one goal so far: read _War and Peace_. Seriously. I forget how good a classic usually is.

Gravatar

Lynn Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 13:48 pm

Shouldn’t “Learn to Focus” come before “Focus on Happiness” ?

:-)

Gravatar

Dragan Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 13:52 pm

Zdravo! Ja pojma nemam sta ovde pise. Slabo govorim engleski.Doduse, svidja mi se zaglavlje ovog bloga. Pojma nemam kako sam se ovde nasao! Zna li neko kako da se vratim kuci?

Gravatar

Thomas Herold Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 13:52 pm

I specially like the saying from Roosevelt about the dreams. It is much more important to have a dream than a goal. Most goals are artificially created and therefore run out of steam at a given point. Dreams, on the other side, are connected to a persons talent, gift or ability.

Cheers

Thomas Herold
CEO Dream Manifesto
http://www.dreammanifesto.com

Gravatar

David Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 13:55 pm

Another quality post. I especially like the part about one setting too many goals. As we thrive for perfection, it is easy to put too much on our plate and lose focus on the most important actions. Its not about quantity, but quality that matters.

Gravatar

Jeniffer Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 13:55 pm

I love #3–taking action now.
Too often, people get so caught up in the planning phase, that they never actually DO anything.
“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” –Peter Marshall
Great post, great blog.
Best of the new year to you!

Gravatar

Jennifer Mannion Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 14:31 pm

Hi Leo, GREAT tips and I love the “make time for loved ones”. It is so easy when you start working intensely on something to let other things go. Relationships with your family/friends or whoever you are closest to need to be maintained to thrive and grow. Everyone involved benefits. Thanks Leo — I wish you and your family all the best for 2008! Gratefully, Jenny

Gravatar

TinyJ Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 14:39 pm

I love #6, scheduling time for yourself and family.

“A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” - The Godfather

Gravatar

Gabriel Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 18:09 pm

Grea tips, thanks a lot!

This list should be read by anone who wants to accomplish something. I mean it is really easy to get distracted by email, discussion groups etc… and then we lose our focus and don’t do much at all.

I would add maybe: take some time to relax or similar… Because our minds work the best when we are relaxed, and when we are relaxed we make right decisions and we are more productive.

Great stuff, thanks again.

Gravatar

Kelly Rigby Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 19:18 pm

Wow, are you reading my mind?

Just yesterday I decided that despite earlier assertions I would not make New Years Resolutions, I went ahead and set one goal for 2008. To sell one of my stories or novels, which means writing and blogging like crazy this year.

So, I am going to give a big hurray to number 1 as I think it is so much easier to balance life and stay focused (and there comes in number 7) if you are working towards only one major goal at a time.

As for focusing on family and happiness (numbers 5 and 6), I realised the importance of that near the end of 2007. if you’re striving and not living with those you love, then it’s all meaningless in the end.

Think I’ll sign up for that habit challenge though - I’m not so great in that area and I could do with some champions on my side giving me a push.

Another fab post, Leo. I have no idea how you manage to produce so much great content ALL THE TIME.

Cheers.
Kelly

Gravatar

Kenneth - Guy From Success Blog Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 21:29 pm

It’s incredible. I’ve been pretty lost about my business, but after I’ve sit down and start to write my goals down just for 10 minutes.

My whole mind changed, I can see things more clear and know what action need to be taken.

The things is do not focus on the problem, focus on what you can do to take the problem away.

Gravatar

gnoma Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 22:32 pm

very nice blog..

Gravatar

Miss Gisele from myBeautyMatch.com Says:

January 4th, 2008, 1:23 am

Hello Leo,

Happy New Year to you and all of your readers!

I think this is the time of the year where everyone looks at what worked and what did work in 2007 and make improvements for 2008.

I quite like your seven suggestions, but I’m quite partial to #6 – Schedule time for you.

In January and February I go into details on my own blog about how cutting out “me” time in order to get my blog up and running + adding a number of new writing opportunity left me severely sick during the holidays. I cut out all of my favourite activities (and time with friends) and was chained to my desktop for at least 14 hours per day.

Needless to say that I’m not going to repeat the same mistakes in 2008!

I don’t set 10 or 12 or 25 goals anymore. I have two major sets personal and financial … within those two categories I have one main (monumental goal) and everything else just basically falls around those monumental goals.

I found the having a long list of goals basically made me too stressed out because I’m one of those people who does what she says she will do.

Thanks again Leo for an inspiring post.

Gisele
http://www.mybeautymatch.com

Gravatar

creativelyselfemployed.com Says:

January 4th, 2008, 17:51 pm

you’re so right about habits. these are valuable “baby steps” as i call them–and they work!

Gravatar

Mika Says:

January 5th, 2008, 0:42 am

Well, although I enjoy your posts, this whole “one goal” tip is still somewhat confusing for me. I’ll tell you why: I have two major goals that I must accomplish. The first one is to lose weight and the second one is to get my degree in college. Although I do understand the importance of focusing, I don’t see how could I possibly chose one of those aforementioned goals as my ONE main objective for 2008.
In my opinion, both are rather important for my life plan and one could not be put aside for a whole year in order to accomplish the other. So should I focus on those two goals?

Man, I’m 22 and already this growing up thing looks rather difficult.

Gravatar

Ricardo Sergio Says:

January 5th, 2008, 1:17 am

Blog is wonderful, good texts.

Congratulations,
Ricardo Sergio
Faça the Difference!!!
http://facaadiferenca.blospot.com

Gravatar

Ricardo Sergio Says:

January 5th, 2008, 1:19 am

Blog is wonderful, good texts.

Congratulations,
Ricardo Sergio
Faça the Difference!!!
http://facaadiferenca.blogspot.com

Gravatar

Megan Says:

January 5th, 2008, 10:42 am

This is wonderful Leo. I have to tell you that you started your list off right ONE GOAL. It’s funny how we make these big long lists… do they really happen.

I so enjoy your blog. You motivate me everyday and I think you have some wonderful information to contribute!
Thank you … Happy New Year…

Gravatar

ITrush Says:

January 5th, 2008, 10:59 am

#1 is the best, every blogger should concentrate on 1 goal and the rest will follow. Nice article, thanks for sharing your 7 essential tips and congrats!

Nhick
http://www.itrush.com

Gravatar

Snigel Says:

January 5th, 2008, 12:55 pm

I do not understand about having just one goal for an entire year. I have many goals, but during any given week, I probably spend time on about ten of them. However, they vary very much and compete only for time. It seems terribly ineffective to have just one goal.

Consider running a Marathon (which I actually have as a goal right now). It might take a number of hours each week for some months to accomplish, depending on where you are when you start. Why would a goal in a completely different area interfere with the running? For instance, I also have a goal to read all novels that have won the Hugo Award.

The problem is that I (and I am quite sure that I am not alone) have more energy than can be spent on one single project. If I ran four hours a week, I would still need more goals, because I would have a lot of energy left. Running more would not be it, because putting too much effort on one thing might even have reverse effect on the training.

I guess this is a fairly traditional approach, but I strive to have as many goals as possible as long as they do not interfere too much with each other. For instance, I have another two physical goals for this year: doing 25 pull ups and walking 100 metres on my hands. These can comfortably be practiced during one and the same session, which greatly increases the efficiency of that session. Hand walking (and anything else) requires rest and why not strive towards another goal while resting?

It is of course also possible that I have misunderstood your intention, being new to your blog.

Gravatar

Maura Says:

January 5th, 2008, 14:14 pm

Snigel — forgive me if I am mistaken, but it sounds like you have considerably fewer obligations that require your time and attention than others. Maybe in a few years, Leo’s suggestion will make more sense to you. Besides, he isn’t saying don’t do only one thing. Keep reading this blog, and you’ll see that he has done a lot over the last year, and I suspect he really has done this by focusing on his One Goal.

Gravatar

Snigel Says:

January 5th, 2008, 20:47 pm

Maura: I guess it is different for everyone, but yes, I “only” study full time and I have no children. Most people I know are limited by their capacity to utilise what time they have, almost regardless of how many obligations they happen to have.

I also think that striving towards goals is essential to getting things done, but if he is not saying that I should only do one thing, that means that those other things would not count as goals, which seems strange to me. Perhaps the intention is only to have one overall goal for the whole year? That seems more reasonable, but it is not the impression I got when I read this article.

Besides, I am pretty sure that this is relevant even if I would have had more obligations and less spare time, because running a Marathon (which was the example here) demands a huge amount of time compared to many other goals I could think of. If that is a possible goal, why not have two smaller ones which add up to the same amount of time? It seems very difficult to set a goal which is just the right size, so to speak.

Gravatar

CK Says:

January 5th, 2008, 21:59 pm

I agree with Snigel, I am studying too and one goal would be not enough for me. A goal would be to get better grades at university, but this has nothing to do with another goal like swimming 3km in 1 hour. If I would focus only on getting better grades, I would swim “goalless”, which isn’t very productive at all. I think I prefer keeping different goals, maybe one for each area of life: body, work/job, sociality and hobbies/interests.

Gravatar

Leo Says:

January 6th, 2008, 18:38 pm

@Snigel and CK: If having multiple goals works best for you, don’t change a thing. Some people can function well with multiple goals.

I myself was the same way, and would actually make a lot of progress with multiple goals. But I also found that I was spreading myself too thin, and after awhile, I would run out of energy on some of the goals and just drop them or put them on the back burner. That’s because it’s very difficult to maintain the focus and energy required to actually accomplish a long-term goal, and if you have 10 goals or so, it requires 10 times the energy and focus. It can be done, but it’s much more difficult, and most people just don’t have the energy and motivation for that. You might be the exception, but it’s something to think about.

For myself, I understand the desire to have multiple goals. This year, for example, I want to run a marathon and start a new online business and a second blog and write a book. However, I’d bet that I will have trouble doing all of them.

Instead, I’m going to pick one at a time. If I accomplish one in a month or two, I can start my next goal. It’s basically one at a time, achieve the goal, then move on to the next one.

So in your example, you are training for a marathon, but still have free time and energy for other goals. Well, my advice is to first make your goal to create the habit of marathon training. Focus on that for a month. Put the other stuff on the backburner (you can still do other stuff, but perhaps not do them as your main goal). Once that habit is created, it can be moved to the backburner (you’ll still do it, but it won’t require your full focus, because it’s a habit now) … and you can choose your next goal.

So you can see that it’s simply a matter of focus. You can still do other things, if they don’t interfere with your main goal, but just focus on one thing at a time.

Again, that’s just my advice, but if your method works for you, I don’t recommend changing it.

Gravatar

Frank Says:

January 7th, 2008, 5:23 am

Your resolution(s) inspired me to alternatives, often opposites/

1. No goal.
Live day by day and enjoy the ride.
2. Don’t build habits.
Be creative and try not to do the same thing over and over again.
3. Be slow on actions
This is actually the premise of slowdownnow.org
4. Simplify
This one I absolutely agree with.
5. Keep your mind open
By focusing on a specific thing, you easily oversee the obvious important things.
6. Spend time to yourself and your loved ones
Scheduling means postponing. Schedule the time for anything else but yourself and your loved ones.
7. Learn to enjoy
If you can enjoy everything you do, think or feel, then you can achieve anything important to you. You don’t need to focus.

live! vive! lebe! leef!

Gravatar

Matin Says:

January 7th, 2008, 19:05 pm

Hi Leo, I love the idea behind zenhabits and find the contents very useful. I recently talked about your blog specially 7 ways to make 2008 a better year on my site so hopefully other people can use your ideas and get inspired:-)
X M

Gravatar

Snigel Says:

January 7th, 2008, 20:17 pm

@Leo: I understand that you do not propose to be omniscient and that your methods work for everyone. :) I just did not understand what you meant, but your post managed to clarify. I understand what you mean and agree at least partly.

The problem is if you have goals which do not require much time. Say that I wanted to manage a free handstand for a minute (yes, I had that as a goal). You cannot practice handstands for long periods of time and I am pretty sure that even a parent with full time job and children could find more than, say, twenty minutes each day for a project.

So, if the goal is a time consuming monster like running a marathon or writing a book, I completely see your point and shall consider it further. Many of my goals are smaller or require diligent practicing over a long time, without requiring much time per day. Do you see what I mean?

Gravatar

Sarah Says:

January 8th, 2008, 17:30 pm

I love this post, especially the idea that habits achieve goals. So true — thank you!

Gravatar

7mo7a Says:

January 9th, 2008, 19:00 pm

Awesome steps,but seems a little bit fatigue to be followed..
Wish the best of luck :)

Gravatar

Jaxs Says:

February 5th, 2008, 16:20 pm

Being the slightly melancholy but hard-core multi-tasker that I am, I am SO glad to have come across these great tips to focus, simplify, and be happy. Feel so much better already!

Jaxs

Add your comment





Trackbacks (47)

donate
to Zen Habits

browse



search site