Dear Friends,

Happy 2008! I love a new year – it feels so fresh and new. Although I don't officially make New Year's resolutions, I do like to ask myself "What do I want more of this year?" and "What do I want less of?" And I of course like to "float some goals" –find out what that means in this month's insight.

Finally, don't miss Al Gore's Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Useful Resources. It's a winner.

My best to you for a soul-satisfying 2008!
Claudette

Float the Goal

It's that time of year again, isn't it? You've celebrated the winter holidays and New Year's Day has come and gone. Now it's officially 2008. You've probably set a few goals for the year and maybe even some resolutions.

Many people stop short of setting goals because they're concerned that if they don't meet them, they'll experience a sense of failure. I'd like to propose a remedy – it's a strategy I call "float the goal." Here's how it works:

Step 1: Identify a goal for 2008. Write it down clearly and succinctly, and make sure it's a goal that you can easily keep in your head, such as a dollar amount that you want to earn, the amount of weight you want to lose or the kind of friendship you want to develop.

Step 2: Periodically, "float" the goal in your mind. I mean – run the goal through your mind and simply observe it for a second or two. "Oh, that's right. I want to earn $100,000 in 2008." Then let it go by moving on to the next thought. Refrain from getting "attached" to the goal. Being attached to the goal sounds like "I'm afraid I won't meet the goal" or "How will I ever meet this goal?" or "If I don't meet it, I'm a failure." Negative attachments will quickly catapult you down a mental rabbit hole that has no exit.

Step 3: Let go of "how." With the "float the goal" strategy, "how" isn't a requirement. Isn't that nice? That's one of the perks of the strategy that I love. In fact, "figuring out" how to achieve the goal is counterproductive. You want to set the goal, float it in your mind and move forward more intuitively, whether that's through networking, marketing or researching. Keep taking action and putting your energy out there by – as the author Julia Cameron says – "shaking the trees."

Step 4: Go out and have fun. You might be thinking – how does fun connect with accomplishing a goal? Let me explain. Sometimes when we're having difficulty meeting a goal, we get tight, serious and start either berating ourselves or blaming external circumstances. All of these strategies are counterproductive. While an honest analysis of whether you're taking the best actions can be beneficial -- once you've reviewed your actions, go out and have fun. Lighten things up. Generate positive energy. Take a mental load off -- a watched pot never boils and neither does a watched goal.

Step 5: Harvest positivity. This is the skill of active observation. Consciously choose to find and focus on the positive in any situation. You may have a lifelong habit of focusing on the negative in situations that aren't to your liking, feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar. Again, a negative focus will steer you down an unproductive path. So identify the positive – once you do, you'll feel like you have more control. There's nothing like looking at an array of positive options to boost your spirits and create that "I'm in charge" feeling.

Step 6: Notice what you're avoiding. "What we resist, persists." I don't know who originally uttered these words, but they are 100 percent true. What we resist or avoid, internally or externally, not only persists, it usually expands over time. Be brutally honest with yourself about what you're avoiding at this very moment. And what do you tend to avoid time and time again? Once you have the answer, you can take action on it, which will open the pathway to meeting your goal with much greater ease. What could be better than ease?

Step 7: Go out and have fun. Seriously. Don't forget to have fun! When in doubt, do something nice for yourself or for someone else. Change the energy – don't let it stagnate. There's nothing like the power of positive energy to smooth the pathway to attracting what you want in your life.

Remember, a goal is simply a direction, not necessarily a destination. We're never really done. Once you reach one goal, the next goal or goals appear in your vision. So in 2008, float your goals and watch the new, different and exciting results that float into your life. And get ready to expect the unexpected!

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Products & Services

If you liked today's issue, you'll love these services!

• Coaching for the New Year. Ready to start the new year on the right foot? Do you want to you need a career refresher, a business update or a lifestyle change? If the answer is "yes" to any of these questions – there's no time like the present to prepare for a fantastic 2008!
  
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Useful Resources

• Gore Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. http://www.thinkprogress.org/gore-nobel-speech. Al Gore's acceptance speech is more than inspiring – I encourage each one of you to read it. It's a testament to the power that we each have to make a difference in the world. Consider this excerpt:
  
  "Sometimes, without warning, the future knocks on our door with a precious and painful vision of what might be. One hundred and nineteen years ago, a wealthy inventor read his own obituary, mistakenly published years before his death. Wrongly believing the inventor had just died, a newspaper printed a harsh judgment of his life's work, unfairly labeling him "The Merchant of Death" because of his invention – dynamite. Shaken by this condemnation, the inventor made a fateful choice to serve the cause of peace.
  
  Seven years later, Alfred Nobel created this prize and the others that bear his name.
  
  Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my own political obituary in a judgment that seemed to me harsh and mistaken – if not premature. But that unwelcome verdict also brought a precious if painful gift: an opportunity to search for fresh new ways to serve my purpose.
  
  Unexpectedly, that quest has brought me here. Even though I fear my words cannot match this moment, I pray what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say, 'We must act.'
  
  The distinguished scientists with whom it is the greatest honor of my life to share this award have laid before us a choice between two different futures – a choice that to my ears echoes the words of an ancient prophet: 'Life or death, blessings or curses. Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.'"
   

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