Don’t limit attempts to seek a better life

Let me ask you a simple question, and take just a quick few seconds to think about this and answer it honestly. So here it is, do you think there is something you can do or say in the next day, week, month or year to make your personal life or your professional life worse?

Of course the answer is yes, we could all torpedo our lives if we really tried to, couldn’t we? I mean, some of us can do something in the next few seconds or minutes to make things go horribly wrong.

Now answer the same question slightly differently, is there something you can do in the next day, week, month, or year to make your personal life or your professional life better? And, of course, the answer once again is yes.

So if we know that there are things we can personally do to make all aspects of our lives better, or even just any aspect of our life better, why don’t we? For some, it’s just because they have never known any differently, they allow things to happen and influence their directions and actions instead of setting their own course for success. They attach their sail to someone else’s boat.

Now, believe it or not, there are also some that are of the belief that good things or goodness only happen to other people and that those good things are out of their grasp. Or they subscribe to the old saying that “no good deed goes unpunished.” It’s time we changed that thinking and believe in goodness, good people, and good and worthy goals. Remember the two questions above, we get to choose if we will do something –; anything, for that matter, that will make our lives better or worse –; and that choice is up to us.

It’s coming up on New Year’s Eve, and there is no better time to think of setting and pursuing a good and worthy goal. Now many of us will set the traditional goals or check the box and proclaim our New Year’s resolutions, including more family time, lose weight, stop smoking, make more money, and a host of other personal goals. I would like to challenge us all a little more this year, think outside the box when it comes to goal setting and New Year’s resolutions. As a matter of fact, let’s forget the box, the box doesn’t exist anymore, let’s just max out our imagination and creativity and come up with goals of goodness, plans for success, and resolve to making the decisions that will make 2015 a wonderful year personally and professionally.

Let those two questions I asked in the beginning of this column sink in again for a minute. Is there something –; anything at all –; that you can do or say that will make your life better or worse? Remember that “you” are the key in the question, “you” get to make the decision, “you” get to set the goals, “you” get to take the actions that will lead to “your” success.

Now here’s the extra added benefit, the “buy-one-get-one-free” part of this deal. As you make improvements in your own world, you will notice people around you making strides and improvements in their lives too.

As we enter 2015, I would love to help you with any of your goal-setting objectives. And if you are interested, provide some coaching for your personal, professional, or spiritual life, helping you answer the questions about what you can do to make your life better and help you avoid the things that can make your life worse. You can send me an email at gotonorton@gmail.com and I can share more about what that looks like. And when we set our goals, and fill our hearts and minds with goals of goodness it really will be a better than good year. Happy New Year, everyone.