This is the year …
OK - Resolving is one thing and doing and succeeding is another kettle of veggies.
Everyone goes about moving toward success in their own way simply because we are individuals. Maybe this could be titled “campaign for a happy month” or “making a successful course correction with your life”.
Read on, especially if you are intending on taking up calligraphy or refining your photography OR SOMETHING MUCH MORE.
A little self-understanding might be nice right here. I recommend that you take time to get a general idea of the kind of personality you have on the Meyers-Briggs profile. This will not profile you or create anything except a better understanding of what your tendencies happen to be. A free, quick form of this test can be found doing a quick web search. OK, here it is. I did the HARD WORK for you, but take the test and hang on to the 4 initials that make up your personality TYPE. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
Having established your 4 character personality “type”, you can look at famous others with similar traits. You can react or respond – but this little indicator is generally quite on the mark.
I wonder if there are “Meet-Ups” based on these? Maybe it is best that there aren't and not gathered into small rooms.
If you want to dispute or affirm the findings, I recommend the Huntington battery of tests. This is a fairly expensive and time-consuming test. It is usually given to business executives to see if they will fit into the management style of a company or will be the catalyst for change that a company wants. I took it and it certainly helped me to understand ME.
After you have subjectively and objectively established who you are, move along to your goals.
As I have counseled people at the crossroads of their lives, I am still encouraging them to buy a cheap journal that they will work on for a week or so. It needs to be cheap because when they meet with me for a new session, I ask for the journal they have purchased.
In my fine Italian calligraphy I write, “I Am ...”. They are then told to spend a whole week writing out the rest of that sentence with as many true and valuable things as they understand about themselves.
The session gets a bit more dramatic when I turn the brand new journal upside down then cut the book in half.
Now I open the new cover and write the scary words, “I Want ...”.
The instructions are the same. While they are filling in the “I Am” side they will be completing the “I Want” side. This side is important and is to be as inclusive as possible.
Note: If the client does not buy the journal, the counselor/client relationship is ended. Also, if this exercise is not completed, the relationship is ended. I AM the coach and I WANT this simple and necessary task completed so that we can move forward.
After 7 days or so we meet again and they bring the 2 halves of their journal. I ask if they have complied and if they have we move forward. If they have not done so, we part.
We then talk about dreams – the kind revealed in the “I Want” part of the journal. These are the destinations, not the journey. Victory, success and completion – all realized. They must see themselves as having arrived and make clear descriptions that include all of their senses. They must really be in the place they have established as their goal.
In military and corporate terms we then begin a process of defining strategy and creating tactics.
My personal hero and the master of both was Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was the second President of the United States during my lifetime and had been the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied forces during the Second World War. Reading his biography will reveal just how every turn and event and person he met in his continually ascending career prepared him for this pivotal role in world history.
It is sad that he became a US President and had to deal with 8 years of string pushing. He would have lived a happier and longer life if he had remained as president of Columbia University after his retirement from the military.
General Eisenhower was the ultimate strategist. He saw things globally and for the long term. He was also the grand tactician. He managed other multi-starred generals and field marshals as well as admirals and ships' captains. He coordinated the largest air and amphibious invasion in history and, as it began, stated that if it was a failure, it was his sole responsibility.
The invasion was costly, it could have been worse and it did succeed.
Self-understanding, goals, strategy and tactics will create the energy and disciplines that put you in position, on the path that ultimately leads to your goals.
DREAM and refine and define your goals.
Create the STRATEGY that utilizes your nature, abilities, talents and experiences.
Exercise tactics that bring measurable results every day, week and month. Taking care of business that way will ensure that the years and decades take care of themselves. Setbacks may come, but are just opportunities to dust off, shake down and move on.
Oh yes – many people do really well with a coach. If you were getting your body fit, you'd hire a personal trainer. I can make a good recommendation in that arena. (That was a puny pun.)
A life coach may be the ticket to get your MIND, EMOTIONS and LIFEPLAN together. Depending on what you have IN YOUR MIND, I might have a beautiful recommendation there as well. (not punny at all.) © tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com
Some research resources you might want to land on are:
http://www.molossia.org/milacademy/strategy.html
http://management.about.com/cs/adminaccounting/a/vst.htm
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/tactics-strategy-do-you-know-the-difference.html
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/strategy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_strategy (best)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_tactics (best)
