No matter where you are in the world, this week offers us all the opportunity to enter the new year with a new plan and a new attitude. Even if we believe we have the right plan and a great attitude, there could be room for a little improvement raising the bar for ourselves and those around us. What if we could make the slightest incremental improvements to our existing plans and our outlook? I think you would agree that we would experience even greater results.
These past couple of months have kept us busy with clients and internally with business planning, writing sales plans, prospecting plans, training plans, new onboarding plans, and working with clients and friends on creating and building vision boards that help provide visual reminders of our goals and what we expect the new year to bring. And if we forget or fail to plan, this old quote often attributed to Benjamin Franklin still holds true all these years later, “By failing to plan, you are preparing to fail.”
Now some of us might be thinking that our plans are just fine, and our attitude is exactly where it needs to be. Whenever I hear this, I am reminded of something my great uncle Harry would always say, “There is nothing so good it couldn’t be better, and nothing so bad that it couldn’t get worse.” So, even if we believe our plans are solid and our attitude is good and positive, maybe we could take one last look at our plans and give ourselves a check-up from the neck up to try and identify any blind spots we may have missed.
When it comes to planning, I am a big advocate of using a planning tool. I am a little biased to the Ziglar Performance Planner as it is an annual planner that helps me not only manage my days and meetings, but it also helps me to plan out my goals for the year and track those goals each and every day. It also contains some of Zig’s most famous motivational quotes, and when I read those each day, it definitely inspires me, and ensures my attitude is in the right place as I glance at those words of wisdom throughout my day. If you aren’t using one, I would highly recommend that you find one that works for you and your schedule.
How do we develop and maintain a positive attitude in a world that can sometimes feel so negative? That is a question I receive from many of you throughout the year. And here at the beginning of the year is the perfect time to take control of our own attitude regardless of what the world throws our way. Setting our foundation upon an attitude that starts with gratitude. It’s really difficult to slip into a negative head space when we are grateful for everything we have and everyone in our circle of friends and family.
Maintaining a positive and healthy attitude isn’t just about gratitude alone, we also must be careful of what we allow to enter our minds. Again, here at the beginning of the year it is a fantastic time to create a reading calendar for the year of the good books that we want to read, books that inspires us and that keep us grounded. It’s a great time to find the podcasts that are filled with powerful and positive information that can motivate and challenge us to grow in mind, body, and spirit.
How about you? Is the new year the right time to reevaluate your plans? Are you failing to plan? Or are you all over this and have a brilliant plan and a wonderful attitude? Either way, I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when we can take the time to create a plan that will help us to achieve all that we hope to achieve in the new year, and support that plan with a positive attitude, it really will be a better than good life.
Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.
