This is the season of planning, of fresh beginnings, of setting our sights on new heights. As a professional person, you have undoubtedly set goals in some form - work goals, athletic goals, relationship goals, life goals.

The thought of setting goals for the year ahead will fill you with excitement, nervousness, fear, or some combination thereof.  There are many methodologies for goal setting, and while I have my favorite one, I believe whatever personally motivates you most effectively is the right one for you.

Rather than debate which goal-setting approach is the best, instead I am proposing two principles to apply to whichever method you choose:

Be Ruthless:  Narrow your list of goals to one or two big things. That’s it. Resist the temptation to come up with a list of goals a page long.  

Listing a page full of unprioritized goals of varying importance is a sure-fire way to distract yourself with busy-ness, rather than focus on what is really the “big unlock” for you in the year ahead.

What’s that thing you really need or want to achieve or handle, that if you did it, would change the game for you? Do that.  

Eliminate the big, long list. Mercilessly cut out the distractions, the time fillers, and the activity producers.

When you completely handle your “big unlock,” one year from now, you will be astounded at what you have accomplished.  Like a good chiropractic adjustment, your “big unlock” creates a range of movement and possibility that didn’t exist before.

Feel It: Professional athletes and top performers use a secret weapon. In order to achieve their goal, they visualize and fully feel what it is like to already have accomplished their goal.

They picture themselves in situations, doing exactly what they need to do to perform at their best. They mentally rehearse these scenes and use all of their senses to immerse themselves in their future reality.  This activates their subconscious mind in service to their goal.

As much as we’d like to think we are rational creatures, at our core, we are driven most by strong feelings. When you fully feel yourself having already accomplished your goal, that is when you take the actions you need to draw it toward you, and eliminate any self-imposed barriers.

What astonishing thing are you planning to create in the year ahead?