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Veteran’s Day came and went. I enjoyed a quick weekend trip where I was able to visit a dear friend and his family, rest, eat a ton and reflect. I savored each moment of the long weekend, and then I panicked. It’s already November! I started the year with all of these goals, and as of now, I still have a ton of things left to do. So many that it would be an impossibility at this point in the game to check everything off by the end of 2016.
I started feeling so guilty. “I must be the laziest, undisciplined person in the world.” I beat myself up pretty badly, and then I paused. When leaders are expecting greatness from their followers, do they berate them? Or do they encourage and inspire them? Through my reflection, I decided that it would be more productive to practice self-love instead of focusing on all of my faults and imperfections.
If you are in the same boat, here are a few steps to help you maximize the time that you still have in 2016.
1. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Stop telling yourself that you are a failure and a loser. We all fall short of our own expectations sometimes, but beating yourself up isn’t going to change anything. Before you start dishing out punishments, forgive yourself. In order to fuel your own focus and determination to get things done, you have to be positive, and pounding yourself into the ground isn’t going to get you any further ahead. Your self-love and esteem can’t be based on your accomplishments. If you are lacking discipline be honest with yourself, but try to be kind to yourself in the process. Consider yourself as a piece of tarnished silver; If you want to sparkle again you don’t beat yourself with a hammer, you use polish to remove the tarnish.
2. Get organized. Instead of having a long list of goals that you want to accomplish, prioritize your goals and focus on them one by one. Identify and document the steps necessary to reach each goal. Assign time frames for each step involved in achieving your goal. If you break each goal down, you create a path for yourself that will allow you to make real progress.