Happy new you: blow past ordinary goal-setting and achieve extraordinary results

Muscle & Fitness, Feb, 2005 by Carey Rossi

AS SHE HAS DONE EVERY Jan. 1 for the past six years, Kari Odiatu will sit down on the first day of 2005 and write down 100 dreams and goals. This isn't merely an overly ambitious take on making New Year's resolutions. This is how the pro fitness competitor and motivational speaker plans what she wants to accomplish, not just in this calendar year but throughout her life.

Most people who make resolutions pick one area of their lives--whether physical, financial or emotional fitness--and list a handful of benchmarks to aim for. They're going about it all wrong, says Kari. According to her, writing down 100 goals gives you a greater chance of actually accomplishing more of them.

HONING YOUR HUNDRED

Don't get us wrong: Sitting down to brainstorm 100 goals and dreams is a daunting task. But that's the whole point. "When you start to run out of ideas, you actually reach for things that maybe you thought you could never get; things you thought about in years past but had kind of given up on," says Kari. "It makes you stretch beyond your limits." Go ahead, write down that you'd like to skydive, start your own company, open a gym on Bora Bora or compete in the Olympia. "When I write that hundred, the sky's the limit, and I might be 80 when I achieve some of them," Kari comments. "I think a lot of people are scared to write down goals because they're scared of not achieving them."

Put that worry out of your head. The best part about this exercise is that there's no pressure and no time-line. Consider your first list a rough draft and go back through it to categorize the goals and make sure you're planning a balanced life. Then, further divide the list by deciding which goals you'd like to accomplish during the next year, two years, five years and so on.

PLANNING YOUR LIFE

Each Jan. 1, review your original list and revise it. Anything you haven't yet achieved (and still want to get to), carry over into the next year. In this way, you can take stock of how far you've come and how much you still want to accomplish. "You concentrate on the things you've achieved, and you look at everything else as motivation to keep working toward something new," Kari remarks. "Also, it's up to you if something isn't important to you anymore." Are you no longer the adventure-seeking type? Take bungee jumping off the list and replace it with an activity that suits your new self. "You're always expanding and growing," says Kari. "What you want out of life changes, and your goals and your feelings change. So every year, on Jan. 1, I sit down with my list from the previous year and keep all the things that are still important to me and that I'm still excited about and cross off anything that's not important anymore. Then I add new ones."

This New Year, treat yourself to the possibility of a whole new you.