The truth is neither negative nor positive.

It just is.

The most difficult aspect of the truth is accepting it without trying to manipulate it for your comfort.

For many of us, the end of the year can bring an onslaught of realizations; all the goals you set for 2017 seems to have disappeared from your grasp. And now you’re trying to justify it with excuses or you are beating yourself up for not living up to your word or you’re passing it off into the next year.

Let’s be real for a moment: the only certainty in life is death. Everything else is left to you to learn, achieve, work toward, stay away from, aspire, practice, isolate, and grow from.

Many of us are choosing a metaphorical death until a literal death takes us. We do this the moment we fail to prepare ourselves to complete and achieve our goals. There are necessary steps we must actively do to ensure success. The first step which is paramount to actually starting our journey or new chapter, is to create a vision board. The universe along with your dedication can only return to you what you put out. If you put out positive vibes, it will not return to you void. This vision board serves as a harbinger for the rest of your year. It should contain actual visuals of what you desire to accomplish, words of affirmation, and contain items that match how you want to feel. For example (pictured on the left), on my vision board, I have an airplane drawn, not because I aspire to own one, but because I want to travel more.

So you’ve got the vision board step locked down. The next step are the goals. Writing down an action plan. As much as we would like to believe we can move in purpose on purpose, the truth is we get distracted very easily. An easy yet tedious fix is to write down a plan for your desired end result. This may look different for you, but the way I choose to set up my goals for 2018 will be by quarter. I will essentially have four umbrellas and under each are the

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely goals.

This will assist in organization and accountability. Some overlap is absolutely fine, but you want to have a desired result by the end of each quarter. For example, if by the end of 2018 I would like to be able to deadlift 200 pounds, the end of each quarter I should be able to deadlift 50, 100, and 150. This will then require a smaller breakdown of how often I am requiring myself to deadlift and the amount of sets I complete in a workout. You can do this weekly or monthly. This is where truth comes in. No one knows your schedule better than you. To see any achievement in your aspirations is to be truthful with yourself. Do not get so swept up in grandiosity that you write things down you know you cannot sustain. Your goals are for you. Your eyes and your action. Please cater them to your lifestyle.

A plan of action= execution of plan

Some of us lack time management. Writing an action plan will assist us in self governance. There is nothing wrong with adhering to a schedule to keep you in alignment. In fact, studies show people are 80% more successful when they dedicate time to write down a plan of action. It provides a path for you to follow and keeps you from feeling directionless.

To drive my point further, Forbes reported a study in which Harvard students were asked if they had goals written down. About 3% percent of them did, 13% had the goals but they were not written down, and the rest (84%) had no goals at all.  After about a decade, the same group of students were interviewed again. The results are as follows; the 13 percent group had some success in that they earned twice the amount of the 84 percent who had no goals, but the 3 percent who had taken the time to write out their goals earned 10 times more than the 97 percent combined.  In goal setting, you have to know the how, the why, and the when, the where and the what. This will assist you in mapping out your footsteps and assist in minimal missteps.

The last step is execution. You’ve done all the behind-the-scene work. You have mapped out your vision plan, and the action. Alarms and reminders on your trusty cellular device can be of great assistance. Life is overwhelming most days and a great way to alleviate trying to remember so much all at once is to save reminders. That way, once it becomes more of a routine, you can fit other things in your life to consistently reach your goal.

So there’s your truth laying tangibly for you to see. You can either walk in it and manifest results or you can decide to put off for another day, month, or year. Preparation of this magnitude will almost always guarantee the desired outcome. Know that sacrifice is inevitable and if you’re not ready to sacrifice, you may not be ready to see change.

I encourage you to get started in this month so the seeds you plant in December and January will essentially give you a head start for 2018.

Wishing you much success in your endeavors.