The Art Of Not Setting Goals or Making Resolutions

My family and I celebrated New Years’ Eve in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. After an evening of eating tacos, shooting tequila and watching fireworks with good friends, I went to bed thinking about my annual New Years’ Day ritual of writing down my accomplishments and setting goals for the new year.

The next morning I woke up, opened my journal and got to work. It all flowed effortlessly until I came to the goal setting section. Try as I may, I couldn’t determine revenue targets or project the number of products we’d sell. Frankly, the whole exercise seemed forced.

Maybe my apprehension was due to the fact that I will mark my company’s 20th Anniversary this year or maybe it’s because I’ll be celebrating a big birthday myself, but for the very first time, I resisted writing down any goals.

After all, New Years Day 2012 was supposed to be the end of the world. Yet, there we were seemingly unchanged. The expression, “Man plans and God laughs” came to mind.

Letting go, I vowed to be open to the possibilities. Something told me that if I stayed committed to my mission, honed my message and became more visible, I would have a stellar year. My feeling was that by not pushing an agenda, the right opportunities would come my way.

Yes, it can be a productive exercise to put in writing that you want to earn X amount of dollars or attract a certain client. But let’s face it; creating expectations with that kind of specificity is like premeditating disappointment. My advice is to resist the temptation and do the following instead:

1. Uncover your mission and set your intention
2. Write down your dream on paper
3. Learn how to authentically express your desire
4. Craft a marketing plan that builds your brand
5. Get out of your office and in front of decision makers

It’s time to let go of the herd mentality of making resolutions and setting specific goals. If you live your life on purpose, the path to your career destiny will continue to reveal itself.

Dreams come true when you take responsibility for the things you want. Begin today by talking about your mission (the “why” behind what you do) with people who you know will be supportive and those that need what you offer. The more you put your dream out there, the more powerfully it will be brought back to you in reality – goals or no goals.

Robin Fisher Roffer is a leading brand strategist and reinvention specialist. Founder and CEO of Big Fish Marketing, she is the author of Make A Name For Yourself: 8 Steps Every Woman Needs To Create A Personal Brand Strategy For Success, The Fearless Fish Out Of Water: How To Succeed When You’re The Only One Like You, and Reinventing Yourself: 10 Steps To Shifting Your Career Into High Gear. Learn more about Robin at: http://bigfishmarketing.com