Accomplishing Your Goals
What's a recipe for successfully accomplishing my goals?

1. Write out the goal. Make it specific, and make it measurable.

2. Write down all the steps you will need to take, along with the date by which you will have accomplished the step. Schedule them on your calendar.

3. Write out the benefit you will receive if you accomplish the goal.

4. Do a reality check. Can you visualize accomplishing this goal?

5. Write down each of the things you can imagine which might prevent you from reaching your goal. Determine and write down what you can do now or when they occur to prevent these things from getting in the way.

6. Put your written goal in a place you will see it every day. Share it with others, both to make it real and to gain support.

7. Be focused and persistent about accomplishing your goal.

So, what are the top reasons people are not successful in accomplishing their goals?

1. They won’t expend the time and energy to write them down. Research shows that people who write their goals down accomplish them, while people who do not write them down fail.

2. Lack of persistence and follow-through. It’s easier to quit and promise yourself that you’ll do it another time.

We nearly always know what to do to accomplish our goals. And when we fail, it's nearly always because we don’t apply enough effort for the length of time it takes to be successful.

That’s when it’s time to hire a coach to encourage you, keep you accountable, and keep you focused.


Want Immediate Results? Consider Trees.
Our culture is enamored with receiving immediate results.

Some have even characterized the Baby Boom generation with the phrase, “I want it, and I want it now.”

In business, in politics, and in sports, we seem intent on immediate results. We criticize and remove leaders who don’t deliver this quarter, this term, or this season.

And we expect no less of ourselves. We get frustrated and discouraged when we don’t see immediate results in our lives.

Seems we have forgotten the basic laws of nature that God put in place.

Psalm 1 provides a picture of us as trees beside a stream, yielding fruit in season.

Maybe a tree is a good model for our lives. Fruit trees generally require years of nourishment, pruning, and growth before bearing fruit. Even then, fruit is not borne instantly or continuously, but in season. Trees need nourishment continually, but fruit only comes periodically, when the season is right.

History teaches us that peoples’ greatest accomplishments almost always come in the second half of their lives. That just makes sense, because it is then that the investment in learning, growing, and developing that we have experienced in our lives is ready to bear fruit.

What are you going to do with the second half of your life? Who could you become? What could you accomplish? How will your mission be fulfilled?

If you’re ready to invest some serious time and energy developing answers to these questions, give me a call to see how coaching can help.


Leadership: Listening to David
I recently read of a Benedictine tradition. When a decision is needed, the leader seeks input from the group, beginning with the YOUNGEST, and working to the oldest member of the group.

It’s called “Listening to David,” because when it came time to encounter Goliath, no one listened to David. Yet he alone had the successful approach to the problem.

I encourage you to add this technique to your decision-making process. Listen to the young, the inexperienced, as well as to your older, trusted advisors. Age and experience don’t have a corner on wisdom and good ideas.

Just ask Goliath!

Success in Retirement: Your Attitude toward Retirement
Some interesting thoughts from "The New Retirement" by Richard Johnson...

Your attitude toward retirement – your perception of what your next life stage will be like for you once you transition beyond your current job – is extremely important in determining whether your retirement will be successful and happy.

Some view retirement as the end of productive life. Others view retirement as the prize awarded for a lengthy career of drudgery.

Still others see retirement as a new opportunity for personal growth and achievement.

The first two attitudes see retirement as rest, while the third sees retirement as involvement.

The old idea of retirement was to keep active pretty much for activity’s sake. The new ideas about retirement are much more focused, more inclined to ask deeper questions about life purpose, life direction, and ultimate meaning from retirement.

Research shows that individuals whose attitude toward retirement is the end of productivity and engagement suffer high levels of depression. Not surprisingly, individuals who see retirement as a new beginning are successful and happy in retirement.

What’s your idea of retirement? What’s your attitude toward retirement? What do you plan to do with it?

The Retirement Success Profile gives you valuable insight into where you stand on the 15 factors found important in determining whether or not you will have a successful retirement – including your attitude toward retirement.

To take the RSP and receive a copy of Johnson's "The New Retirement," give me a call and we’ll get you set up to take it on-line on your own computer.


Do You Only Coach Christians?
I have chosen to call myself a “Christian Life Coach” and to use the description “Christian Life Coaching for the Second Half” for Mapmaker Coaching. Sometimes that causes people to ask if I limit my coaching practice to Christians?

The answer is “no.” I enjoy working with clients whether or not they are Christians.

The purpose of identifying myself as a Christian Life Coach is to indicate that my coaching comes from my Christian worldview and value system. Values are very important in life coaching, and a basic principle is that we are most satisfied and fulfilled when we are living in alignment with our most deeply held values.

Being a Christian permeates all areas of our lives, and it is impossible to segment being a Christian from career, family, and personal goals. Certainly, working with a Christian coach is an important advantage to clients who are Christians, because we share common foundational values and beliefs. Our shared walk as Christians often is an important dynamic in our coaching relationship.

But many of these same values are shared with those of other faiths such as Judaism and Islam, and even with those who are non-religious. In these cases, we are able to work effectively together in the coaching relationship both because of values we do share and because of respect for faith differences we may have. As the relationship develops, we sometimes may choose to share insights from our different perspectives.

Rarely there might be an individual whose values are opposed to mine or who is not choosing to live in alignment with their values, and in those cases, we would be ineffective trying to work together.

If you refer a client to me, I will always treat them with respect.

If you have questions about someone you might be thinking about referring, please feel free to call.

Living Intentionally
How often do you spend time focused on making your life what you want it to be? Weekly? Monthly? Annually? Never?

Do you dream, plan, scheme, prioritize, prepare, change, and grow?

Or do you react, accommodate, cope, and end up traveling the path of least resistance.

When your birthday rolls around or the kids leave home or some other life passage occurs do you find yourself wondering where the time went? Do you wish you had made different choices about how much you worked or how you used your non-work time? Do you have regrets about what you haven’t accomplished?

All of us would like to live intentionally, spending our allotment of time, energy, and money on the things that we truly value. And we may have set out to do just that several times.

Often we don’t succeed because of competing demands. It sounds so good, but actually living intentionally requires effort, discipline, and focus. It’s often easier just to go with the flow.

Sometimes all we need to make it happen is someone who believes in us to partner with us, encourage us, and help us stay focused and accountable. That’s what life coaching is about. Let me know if I can help you achieve your goal of living intentionally.

Personal Notes
Our son John reports that he is doing fine during his Middle East assignment with the Coast Guard. We've also heard from our daughter-in-law Kathy's brothers who are in Baghdad. Please continue to remember all who are in harm's way as well as their families.

Our daughter Sara will soon be on her way to Uganda to do her practicum to complete the requirements for her Nurse Practitioner's degree program. She'll be staying with our mission team in Mbarara while working in clinics at the hospital there.

We're coping by pretending that both are just off to camp. Hope their camp counselors are up to it!

Jim