Your Success Thought for the Week of January 6, 2010 Surprise Yourself This Year I love receiving e-mails from my readers. It helps me to gauge what you want and then to know how to best serve you.    You are keenly aware of the need to continually improve who and what you are in order to stay ahead of the pack, as well as how to deal with increasing pressures and tough decisions.  Many of you are in transition. You are beyond New Year resolutions.   You can barely pick up a magazine or newspaper without seeing headlines guaranteeing the fastest way to improve in the New Year, yet studies show these fast techniques fall by the wayside before the end of January.   You are bright, creative, know at least on some level what you want to accomplish this year and may have an idea of how to accomplish it all.  Where most of us fall short is in the follow-through.   A study recently conducted by Psychology Professor Dr. Gail Matthews of the Dominican University in California found that 43% of the participants accomplished their goals after simply writing them down and prioritizing them.   However, 76% of the participants accomplished their goals by writing them down, creating an action plan and having weekly check-ins with a friend. According to Mathews:   "My study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of three key coaching tools: Accountability, Commitment, and Writing Down One's Goals."   Keep these three tools in mind as you plan out your year.  You just may surprise yourself in actually accomplishing all that you set out to accomplish! Accountability:  to whom, how often and in what manner will you hold yourself accountable?  We humans are experts at lying to ourselves and justifying our actions.  "It's only one brownie." "I don't need to start that project today; tomorrow will suffice."  Find a strong friend, colleague or coach to hold you to your word.  Their perspective will be valuable. Commitment: how committed are you to the goal?  Is it a rehash of last year or do you really want to knock it out of the ball park this year?  I've had clients keep the same goal on their list year-after-year though it no longer applies to the larger picture of what desire.  Rank your goals 1-10 with how important they are to you, and then focus on the highest ranking. Write Your Goal Down:  it's a simple act and a place to start.  What holds us back is that this seems too big - writing, coming up with a game plan, and action items.  Simplify the process by simply writing your overall goals down first. Ask yourself what will change for you if you accomplish this goal.  When you're certain you want to keep this goal, you can move onto the next step of creating an action plan. Here's the great news!   To make this year's goal process easier for you, GV&A's most talented coaches are eager to help you plan out your annual goals with a reduced-fee planning session.    These one-hour sessions, along with helpful forms, begin at a fee of $250. Our coaches are highly trained and experienced, certified by reputable coach training institutions, professional and (based on client feedback) fabulous coaches with whom to work.   Why not surprise yourself this year and begin with the best--a GV&A coach and solid plan?  By December 2010 when you reflect back on your accomplishments of the year, you'll be thrilled that you did! Enjoy your discoveries and have an exhilarating first week of 2010! Ann To see more of my published articles, including ''2009 Executive Coaching Survey,' go to:Golden Visions & Associates, Coaching for Executive and Leadership Success.  : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : P. S. We'd love to hear how you used our 'Success Thought of The Week' in your business or personal dealings.Please email your story to ann@gvasuccess.com. Who Can You Inspire? If Ann's 'Success Thoughts' inspire you to think or act even a little differently, please encourage your team, friends, family other associates to subscribe.  We've not met a human yet who wouldn't benefit from a little weekly inspiration.   We at Golden Visions & Associates will never use lists or send unsolicited ezines to grow our list of readers; however, we love adding new subscribers. We invite you to forward this newsletter to your friends or colleagues in it's entirety. Why not put your entire company or team on our list to receive these weekly motivators? It's easy. If you have a list of five or more names, please send it to pat@paperworkpartners.com and they'll start receiving their own 'Success Thoughts' next week. As always, it's great to be in touch with our subscribers in 'twelve' countries! Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, Mexico, China, and USA. If you receive these 'Thoughts' and live in a country that I have not mentioned, please let me know so I can salute you. Email: ann@GVAsuccess.com Phone: 541.385.8887 or toll free 1.888.831.8883 Website: www.GVAsuccess.com Copyright & Permission Copyright © 1998-2010 All rights reserved Permission is granted to either reproduce copy or distribute "Your Success Thought for the Week" for January 6, 2010as long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author is attached. The author is Ann Golden Eglé, GV&A, Golden Visions & Associates, Coaching for Success, 541.385.8887, PO Box 1696, Bend, Or. 97709. www.GVAsuccess.com

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