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FROM GOOD OLE UNCLE VICJanuary 2007
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a happy and healthy holiday!
The answer to last month's quiz: Name Santa's eight original reindeer. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. Those that got it right were: Terri Hartka, David Beaver, Sally Barlow, P. Heuman, Paula Sanders, Stephanie Miller, Donna Kropkowski, Dana Poist, Vic Weidman, Danice Walker, Lisa Fulmer, Barbara Pitcock, Susan Townsend, Erica Pike, Tony (TZ TZ), Susan Scheidle and Katie Wetherbee
This month we are going to break tradition and, instead of asking a trivia question, we are going to ask you for your New Year's Resolutions. You can either email them to us at Lisa.Hemovich@BrickBodies.com or reply directly to my new Uncle Vic blog on our Brick Bodies website. If you email them to Lisa we will post them on the blog for you. Let us know if you want us to include your name or not. Please feel free to read the resolutions posted on the blog.
As noted above, the New Year is the time for that age old ritual of making New Year's Resolutions. However, in addition to setting New Year's Resolutions, which are often personal in nature and have to do with self-improvement, I also like to set personal goals. These goals are things I would like to accomplish in the coming year, both in my personal and my professional life. Here are some tips I have found to be very helpful in helping me reach my yearly goals.
Before setting goals it is important to identify your personal core values to be sure the goals you set are consistent with them. Personal core values are the guiding principles by which you live your life. Loyalty, faith, family, integrity, effort, hard work, success, the list goes on and on. While you may believe in many values to varying degrees, it is important to narrow down your core values to 3 to 5. These are the 3 to 5 values that guide your decisions and actions more than any others.
Make sure to write down your goals. Goals that are not written down are just an idea. A goal that is written down becomes a commitment. That is why it would be helpful for you to write down your resolutions on my blog. It would almost be a written contract that you have made public!
Be specific. Choose goals that you can measure. Losing weight is good, but losing 20 pounds is better. Saving more money is good, but saving 10% of your wages a month is better. Pick a specific goal that you can measure.
Tie yearly goals into something bigger than the present. Develop a long range goal. Your yearly goal should help you achieve your long range goal. A minimum of 5 to 10 years is best for a long term goal, the longer the better. For instance, if you have the long range goal of maintaining your percentage body fat within the norms recommended for your age and gender, it is much easier to stick to your yearly goal of losing 20 pounds.
Remember the rule of 3's. Choose no more than 3 yearly goals. Any more would be too many on which to focus.
Sign your written goals. Remember, if you write down your yearly goals, it is like a written contract. And you need to sign a contract to make it binding.
Finally, keep your yearly goals handy at all times. Carry them around in your wallet. Post them on the mirror in your bedroom. Put a copy in your brief case. Refer to them often, daily if possible or at least once a week. Remember, out of sight, out of mind.
So that's it:
- First determine your core values.
- Your yearly goals should be consistent with your core values.
- Be sure to write your yearly goals down.
- Be specific with your yearly goals.
- Tie your yearly goals into a long range goal.
- Choose no more than three yearly goals.
- Sign your goals.
- Keep your yearly goals handy at all times.
I actually have a goal card that I use every year with all management staff which includes all eight elements of developing an effective yearly goal. If you would like me to send you one please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Victor Brick, Brick Bodies, 201 Old Padonia Road, Cockeysville, MD 20130, or you could email my assistant, Lisa Hemovich at the email address listed at the beginning of this issue and she could email you the content.
I hope you all have a touch of heaven in 2007.
See you at 100!
Yours in Health and Fitness,
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