7 for 2011: Strategies for a Successful New Year

The New Year triggers the opportunity for reflection, evaluation and redirection. With life now traveling at warp speed, you need to be able to pull a Luke Skywalker and make a quick correction anytime you see that trajectory is off, even a bit.

Here are my top 7 for 2011 — Happy New Year mindsets for us all!

1. Realize Your Uniqueness.

Are you clear about who you are and why you exist on planet earth at such a time as this? God created you on a certain day, in a specific way and when He linked your 3 billion base pairs of DNA together, He did it with precision for a purpose. Get with the plan. Ask God to help you understand why He built you the way He did and what He wants you to do with the time and talents included in your package deal.

2. Re-Align Your Relationships.

Who is the most important person in your life? If you learned this person had only one year to live, how would you make additional time to focus on enjoying and supporting them? Do it and you will enjoy a deeper, more fulfilling relationship for the duration of your time together, however long that may be.

3. Re-Evaluate Your Priorities.

Make a list of all your priorities. Draw an archery target on a piece of paper with a small circle in the middle and four additional circles expanding outward. In the center, write your absolute top priority. In the fifth circle, write your lowest conce
s. In pencil, distribute your remaining items into the remaining three zones. Move things around until you have a good image of your current priorities. Review and revise as needed.

4. Re-Establish Your Goals.

Right now, write down 101 goals. Fast! They can be big, little or impossible, but include everything you can think of that you might like to achieve in your lifetime. Now, prioritize your goals using only three levels (1’s for the most important, 10’s for the least important and 5”s for the rest). This simple exercise has proven to increase goal fulfillment by over 50%. Take it up a notch by acting on a few right away.

5. Re-Visit Painful Places.

Next time you “over react,” recognize that there is an underlying pain causing that out-of-proportion response. Not sure what I mean? Here are three signals to watch for: a) Take note of the next time you feel intense anger, b) Watch for odd facial expressions in the people around you, these often mirror your own over-reactions or c) Track down any unwillingness to tackle an important project or problem. These “ah ha” moments are God’s way of asking you for a bit of quiet time with Him, so He can help you understand “the rest of the story.” Often times, at least for me, the trigger can be traced back to terrible decision I made during a traumatic experience in my past. Once God reveals what’s causing the pain, you can ask Him to heal it.

6. Re-Position Yourself.

“Roll over, Rover!” If you find yourself a bit off-balance, shift a little, change a lot, or call it quits. The one rule to remember is this: Never burn your bridges. Handle all repositioning changes so that a simple modification, mental epiphany or miracle would be a pleasant surprise instead of a missed opportunity.

7. Re-Connect with God.

Your busy, I’m busy, everybody’s busy, busy; but nobody’s too busy for God. Our days are full of stress and distractions. Breathing the air of prayer is what prevents suffocation from toxic emotions and totally out-of-your-control events. Like a plane breaking through dense clouds into a place where the sun in always shining, prayer takes us into the heavenlies, where the Son is always interceding on our behalf. Go there often!