QUESTIONS I ASK MYSELF AT THE START OF EVERY NEW YEAR

Anyone else here a fan of Tony Robbins? If I ever feel uninspired all I need to do is pick up one of his books, flip to any random page and read a few paragraphs. 

He reminds me to think of who I really want to be, how I see myself in years to come, what direction I'm taking, what goals I'm setting for myself, and how I plan on getting there. 

I get caught up in day to day stuff so often that sometimes I forget to really think about how these things will pay off in the long run. Once I really sit down and think about where I see myself 10 years from now, it gives me motivation and changes the course of how I'm doing things. 

One of the most important things I learned from Tony is to set some time aside at LEAST once a year and really just let yourself free and write about where you see yourself 5-10 years from now. 

Write down everything about your ideal day from the moment you wake up until the moment you lay back down to go to sleep.

What are you wearing?

What does your house look like?

Who are you with?

Where are you in the world?

What do you do with the first hour of your day?

I've done this so many times that I this vision in my head like it already happened. This is how detailed mine is: (From here, we write down different questions that will help us figure out how we're going to get to this ideal day for us years from now. )

My ideal day 10 years from now:

I wake up around 6:15am in the second story of my modern home next to my husband and dog, I walk down the wooden steps to my big kitchen where I have a beautiful floor to ceiling window view of San Diego or LA, I make myself some espresso and a fresh juice and turn on some relaxing jazz music and light some candles. 

I spend my morning by myself, reading and planning my day. I have a small breakfast then go back upstairs to get ready for my morning barre class. 

I drive myself to barre in my blacked out infinite suv, my hair, skin and nails are on point and my body is in amazing shape because I eat clean and make time to work out everyday. 

I get back from barre and enjoy some time with my kids and husband while I make them breakfast. 

I work from home in my office upstairs.....

Okay, I won't bore you anymore but you get the idea. Let yourself think of every detail. Let your mind expand and don't place ANY limitations on yourself. Think about what you really really want. 

Now that you know what you want to look like, how you want to live, and where you want to be with your career, you can start THIS YEAR with questions and goals in mind that will help push you towards that ultimate vision. 

There's 4 set's of goals that we need to pay attention to:

- Personal Development Goals 

- Career/Business Goals

- Toys/Adventure Goals

- Contribution Goals 

1. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS:

STEP ONE:

Set a timer for 5 minutes and write down everything that you can possibly think of. 

How would you like to improve your physical body? What are your goals for your mental and social development? Do you want to start to make meditating a habit that you do every morning? Do you want to learn a new language? Do you want to speak in front of an audience?

Emotionally what would you like to experience or achieve? Do you want to forgive someone or mend an old friendship? Do you want to start going to church?

Tony Robbins shares some questions to ask yourself before writing.

• What would you like to learn?
• What are some skills you want to master in your lifetime?
• What are some character traits you’d like to develop?
• Who do you want your friends to be?
• What do you want to be?
• What could you do for your physical well-being? (Get a massage every week? Every day? Create the body of your dreams? Join a gym–and actually use it? Hire a vegetarian chef? Complete the Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu?)
• Would you like to conquer your fear of flying?  Or of public speaking? Or of swimming?
• What would you want to learn? To speak French? Study the Dead Sea Scrolls? Dance and/or sing? Study with violin Virtuoso Itzhak Perlman? Who else would you like to study with? Would you like to take in a foreign exchange student?

STEP TWO:

Set your timer for 1 minute and give yourself a deadline for accomplishing each goal. If it's 1 year or less write 1, if it's 2 years, put a 2 next to it, and so on for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years etc. 

STEP THREE:

Chose your most important 1 year goal and take 3 minutes to write down a few paragraphs about why it's so important to you. Why are you committed to achieving that one specific goal this year? Why is it so important to you? What would you miss out on if you didn't achieve it?

2. CAREER/BUSINESS GOALS

STEP ONE:

Take 5 minutes to write down your career/business/financial goals.

Here's some of Tony Robbin's suggestions of questions to ask yourself.

• Do you want to earn: $50,000 a year? $100,000 a year? $500,000 a year? $1 million a year? $10 million a year? So much that you can’t possibly count it?
• What goals do you have for your company? Would you like to take your company public? Would you like to become the leader in your industry?
• What do you want your net worth to be? When do you want to retire? How much investment income would you like to have so you no longer have to work? By what age do you want to achieve financial independence?
• What are your money management goals? Do you need to balance your budget? Balance your checkbook? Get a financial coach?
• What investments would you make? Would you finance an exciting start-up business? Buy a vintage coin collection? Start a diaper delivery service? Invest in a mutual fund? Set up a living trust? Contribute to a pension plan?
• How much do you want to save toward giving your kids a college education?
• How much do you want to be able to spend on travel and adventure?
• How much do you want to be able to spend on new ‘toys’?
• What are your career goals?  What would you like to contribute to the company? What breakthrough would you like to create?  Would you like to become a supervisor? A manager? A CEO? What would you like to be known for within your profession? What kind of impact do you want to have?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

Pick your top 1 year goal and spend 3 minutes writing about it. Explain why you are absolutely committed to achieving this goal this year and if you can't think of good enough reasons then you might need to pick a different goal that really fires you up.

3. TOYS/ADVENTURES GOALS

Take 5 minutes to write down EVERYTHING you could ever want, have, or experience in your life. 

Here's some of Tony's examples:

• Would you like to build, create, or purchase a cottage? Castle? Beach house? Catamaran sailboat? Private yacht? Island? Lamborghini sports car? Chanel wardrobe? Helicopter? Jet plane? Music studio? Art collection? Private zoo stocked with giraffes, alligators, and hippos?  Virtual Reality machine?
• Would you like to attend an opening of a Broadway plan? A film premier in Cannes? A Bruce Springsteen concert? A Kabuki theater production in Osaka, Japan?
• Would you like to race any of the Andrettis at the next Indy 500? Play Monica Seles and Steffi Graf, or Boric Becker and Ivan Lendl, in a doubles match? Pitch the World Series? Carry the Olympic torch? Go one-on-one with Michael Jordan? Swim with the pink dolphins in the oceans of Peru? Race camels between the pyramids of Egypt with your best friend? And win? Track with the Sherpas in the Himalayas?
• Would you like to start in a Broadway play? Share an on-screen kiss with Kim Basinger? Dirty Dance with Patrick Swayze? Choreograph a modern ballet with Mikhail Baryshnikov?
• What exotic places would you visit? Would you sail around the world like Thor Heyerdahl in Kon-Tiki? Visit Tanzania and study chimpanzees with Jane Goodall? Sail on the Calypso with Jacques Cousteau? Long on the sands of the French Riviera? Sail a yacht around the Greek Isles? Participate in the Dragon Festivals in China?  Take part in a shadow dance in Bangkok? Scuba dive in Fiji? Meditate in a Buddhist monastery? Take a stroll through the Prado in Madrid?  Book a ride on the next space shuttle flight?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

Pick your top 1 year goal and spend 3 minutes writing about it. Explain why you are absolutely committed to achieving this goal this year and if you can't think of good enough reasons then you might need to pick a different goal that really fires you up.

4. CONTRIBUTION GOALS

Take 5 minutes to write down how you want to give back. What contributions do you want to make to OTHER people's lives? How will you leave your mark or make a difference?

Here's some examples from Tony:

• How could you contribute? Would you help build a shelter for the homeless? Adopt a child? Volunteer at a soup kitchen? Read to the blind? Visit a man or woman serving a prison sentence? Volunteer with the Peace Corps for six months? Take balloons to an old folks’ home?
• How could you help to protect the ozone layer? Clean up the oceans? Eliminate racial discrimination? Halt the destruction of the rain forests?
• What could you create? Would you come up with a perpetual motion machine? Develop a car that runs on garbage? Design a system for distribution food to all who hunger?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

Pick your top 1 year goal and spend 3 minutes writing about it. Explain why you are absolutely committed to achieving this goal this year and if you can't think of good enough reasons then you might need to pick a different goal that really fires you up.

Now that you have your 4 MASTER 1 YEAR GOALS, use them to inspire you all year long!

Tony ends with this:

“Now you should have four master one-year goal that absolutely excite and inspire you, with sound, compelling reasons behind them.  How would you feel if in one year you had mastered and attained them all? How would you feel about yourself? How would you feel about your life? I can’t stress enough the importance of developing strong enough reasons to achieve these goals.  Having a powerful enough why will provide you with the necessary how.

Make sure that you look at these four goals daily.  Put them where you’ll see them every day, either in your journal, on your desk at the office, o rover your bathroom mirror while you’re shaving or putting on makeup.  If you back your goals up with a solid commitment to CANI!, to constant and never –ending improvement of each of these areas, then you’re sure to make progress daily.  Make the decision now to begin to follow through on these goals, beginning immediately.”

As the saying goes, your dreams are the most precious things you own.  Your goals are simply your dreams on a timeline.

Leave a comment below and let me know what one of your goals are for this year!!