The end of another year

Today is New Year's eve.

There was a time when I wanted to celebrate the coming in of another number we use at the end of our date. It's a new beginning, a new opportunity. People make resolutions to break a habit only to revert to old ways within the first 2 weeks.

I haven't made resolutions for over 10 years. I make pacts with myself. Pacts can come at any time of the year. Pacts are like promises. No one likes to break a promise, especially with oneself. If you do, you know about it right away and you feel like crap afterwards.

Last night, my wife asked if I wanted to anything special to commemorate the passing of another cycle. I prefer to celebrate success. The end of a year is not a success. It happens whether we want it to or not.

Success is achieving one's goals. One of my pacts is based on attaining a goal. The goal is hard. Harder than I ever thought possible. I have not achieved it so I don't want to celebrate yet. The coming of a new year does not wipe my goal away.

And now that we're at the dawn of a new number, it's time to plan out new goals. Setting annual goals is something I started doing last year. It kept me focused in a distractable world.

The end of the year gives us a chance to reflect what we've accomplished over the past 365 days and what we want to achieve over the next 12 months.

I write out 5 specific goals that are actionable, measurable, realistic, understandable and beyond normalcy. My goals are my own. They are hard. They are in my control and they keep me on track for my longer term vision.

I break my annual goals into 3 month chewable bites. These bites are smaller goals within the annual objectives. I keep a copy of my goals close by and refer to them daily.

It's the end of another year. So what! I am not celebrating until I reach my 2014 goal. And now I have to layer on a new set.

It's gonna be fun!