Ideas for Successful goal setting for 2021

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
                                                                                                         ---Mahatma Gandhi
Over the last four years of offering ideas to my readers on ways to achieve their goals for the New Year I have observed some resistance to new ideas. Many people will take the easy road by  making the same New Year’s resolutions each year with a renewed resolver to follow through. Unfortunately, statistics have proven that those resolutions typically fail after two months into the year.
 
Possibly a new approach could be to make a resolution to start to get to know ourselves better in 2021. This goal will surely not be accomplished in two or three months. It can be fascinating, fun but sometimes shocking, affirming but also challenging; affirming…oh yes, I know that is me; challenging…is that really me? A year of self-study can help us to understand why some opportunities create a constructive flow in our lives and other challenges create roadblocks to success. I am approaching 80 but this is an area I continue to explore to enable smooth transitions to change and roadmaps better suited to the person I am.
 
 When my wife and I experienced Marriage Encounter weekends and then proceeded to present the weekends as a team, the first talk given was Encounter with Self. That talk made me realize I did not know myself very well and made it  difficult to achieve my goal and share in a lifetime growing relationship with my spouse. That experience happened forty-eight years ago, and it triggered a passion in me to read and attend workshops on spiritual and personal enrichment.
 
Several years ago in my first posting I said I put together a toolbox of resources. Much of those resources continue to keep me focused on personal growth, spiritual enrichment, defining and fulfilling goals.
 
 
I would like to offer you an alternative approach to making New Year’s resolutions. That approach is to spend time reading a book or two on self-discovery. Perhaps you will find approaches to achieving your goals that will go more with the flow of who you are. We all define what is possible or impossible for us to achieve by the advantages and disadvantages we know in ourselves. I have found the following book helpful for me.
 
Understanding the Enneagram by Don Riso
“Understanding the Enneagram builds on the insights of the groundbreaking Personality Types. With the Enneagram, we have found a master key, one that will unlock many doors. It will give us wisdom we need to escape from our self-imposed prison so that we can embrace a fuller life.”
There are nine personality types. After reading about them I decided I am Type Three: The Motivator. I am ambitious to improve myself, success driven, goal oriented. The unhealthy side of this type three is fearing failure and humiliation.
When I was encouraged to start a blog by several friends, I had to overcome the block of thinking that most people would not be interested in what I had to say. There was the fear of failure!
 
I will follow up on my next posting with books and resources I have used  to change the pattern from unsuccessful New Year’s resolutions to New Year opportunities for personal and spiritual growth.