What is The Challenge?

We've reached that time of year where we reflect on all the things we did and did not accomplish this year and start planning and plotting for what we want to do in the coming one. I was doing just that the other day and started to experience the guilt and frustration that many of us go through when we review our New Year's Resolutions from the past year and how little we actually accomplished. Some of our resolutions were probably ones we had picked up from 2008 and dusted them off to attempt them again in 2009. I hope that fact does not discourage you from setting your resolutions for 2010. It certainly hasn't stopped me! Do you want to know why? It's because I believe that the day you stop trying is the day you start dying!!!

What happens to the athletes' muscles and skills that don't practice their sport? What happens to the musicians' ability to play beautiful compositions if they don't play on a regular basis? What happens to the writers' following if they don't write regularly and continue to hone their craft? It's the same thing that happens to your life when you stop setting goals and resolutions to improve it in some way.

There really isn't anything special about New Year's Day. We generally don't wake up any different than we were the day before (except maybe a little more tired than usual from staying up so late New Year's Eve). It is an artificial beginning created by the invention of the calendar. The only value it gives us is a time period by which we can measure and record our life by. The question is: Do you want your life in 2010 to be the same as it was in 2009, and 2008, and 2007, and 2006,...?

If your answer is a resounding, "NO!!!", then I am happy to introduce you to what I call The 10 for 2010 Challenge.

Now, if you came here looking for the get-rich-quick, get-thin-quick, get-smart-quick, or any other get-something-quick secrets, I am sorry to disappoint you. You won't find any of that here. What I hope you do find here are the tips, strategies and information that will motivate, inspire and empower you to keep pushing through challenges and obstacles in 2010 to accomplish your New Year's Resolutions and change your life for the better.

I will be honest with you, though. I struggle and fail just as easily as the next person. So the information you need may not come through me. I hope that each and every person who takes up the challenge will participate regularly by sharing comments on this blog and posting regularly on their own blogs so that we may all benefit from their insights and experiences as well. Share the good as well as the bad so we can learn from your success when you're jumping for joy and console and encourage you when you're crying in frustration and then learn from you more as you overcome that challenge.

The 10 for 2010 Challenge itself is simple. Here are 5 Steps to get you going:

1. Identify the top 10 things you want to accomplish in 2010 that would change your life and write them down.

There are a number of ways to identify those 10 resolutions. The easiest is to look at the areas of your life that are frustrating to you right now and write down what would need to happen in the coming year to make it better. Choose goals from several categories such as physical, financial, family, social, spiritual, career and/or business, artistic, talent development, public service, education and hobbies and recreation to have a balanced focus for the coming year. Personally, I think the hobbies and recreation resolutions are a must because if it is "all work and no play" you run the risk of burning out before the end of the year. Just make sure that the goals you set are YOUR goals and that it is something that you are passionate about achieving. If it is something that you don't really care if it happens or not, you are unlikely to achieve it.

2. Choose the #1 goal from your list that would make the biggest difference to YOU if you were to achieve it.

This isn't what your father, mother, brother, sister, spouse, neighbor, friend, pet or postal carrier think you should do. It is what you want the most to do! You may be financially strapped for cash, but you would like to lose 20 pounds and two inches off your waistline more than you want to change your financial situation. Go with losing 20 pounds and two inches. The momentum and confidence you gain from working towards and achieving that goal will better enable you to improve your finances ... not to mention all the money you'll save from eating less fast food.

3. Identify the first steps you need to take and all the FORESEEABLE steps that will take you from where you are now to where you want to be before the end of 2010.

Staying with the losing weight example, some first steps may be join a fitness club, ask a friend to be your workout partner (i.e. accountability partner), arrange time in your daily schedule for walking or other exercise, plan a menu of healthy meals and a shopping list, etc. "Foreseeable" is a key word here as far as the steps that will follow. More likely than not, more steps will be added and some may even be deleted as unnecessary as your knowledge and experience grows and as you progress towards your goal. Don't worry about having a "perfect" plan to start with. Just have an action plan that is good enough to get you started and revise it at a later date.

4. Create a blog to chronicle your 10 for 2010 journey.

This is very important!!! And I hope you send me a link to it at tenfor2010@hotmail.com so that I can put your link on this blog. Motivation in any endeavor is often difficult to maintain. That is why so many people quit on their resolutions. One of the ways to stay motivated is by keeping a record of your successes and your progress. That way you have something to look back on to help pick you up when things are going as well as expected. I recommend not posting your frustrations or failures except where you have overcome them or gained insight through experiencing them that has better enabled you to achieve your goal. Keep your personal record positive so that you will stay positive!

(I did say earlier to share the bad and the tears and frustration, didn't I? Rather than post about those, leave a comment on this blog or the blog of a fellow traveler who is having success. Ask the questions that you need answers to in order to pull yourself out of the quicksand and move forward again. Remember! Grief, pain and failure are instrumental in our success as long as we learn something from it.)

The second benefit to doing this on a blog and allowing me to link to it is that, together, we create what Napoleon Hill called a Mastermind group in his book, Think and Grow Rich. We create a positive, like-minded society that is interacting with the combined goal of making 2010 a far more successful year than we have ever dreamed of. And as fellow successes, we become resources to those who wish to follow in our steps and do what we have done. It is our way of giving back to those who will be where we are now that have a desire to get to where we will be at the end of this year (if not sooner).

5. Set milestones and rewards for when you reach them.

As I mentioned above, maintaining motivation is a major key to achieving any goal. What better way to do that than to celebrate your victories along the way. Milestones are those points in the journey where you stop and look back and say, "Look how far I've come!" Celebrate those moments! And how you celebrate it is up to you. It can be as simple as calling a friend and telling them so they can give you an encouraging "Wahoo!" or it can be allowing yourself to do something you have been wanting to do for a while.

Using the weightloss example again, you could set your milestones at the 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-pound loss points. Perhaps you put $25 away in a special savings account for each of those milestones so that you have a $100 clothing fund when you're done. If you like to celebrate more often, put $5 away for each pound your lose and keep off. You can even involve a friend or spouse in your celebrations by making them promise to take you dancing every time you lose five pounds. If you dance long enough, who knows - they may lose a much needed five pounds, too!

6. Get started!!!

Once you have your list of 10 goals for 2010, you have selected one to focus on, identified an action plan with a starting point, and set milestones with rewards, then take action immediately!!! Don't procrastinate! Get started and begin the momentum that is going to carry you through the finish line!

I am very excited to begin this journey with you and I look forward to learning and growing with each of you as we create amazing successes, both great and small, in the coming year. Throughout the year, keep in mind the following:

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."
~ Abraham Lincoln

I hope you will decide that no matter what happens, no matter how many times you fall, no matter how many setbacks you may experience, you will not quit! Drag yourself across the finish line, banged up and bloody, but unbroken and unbeaten; in a word - Victorious!

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Those of you who decide not to change your life this year, or perhaps the timing isn't just right for you to begin your journey yet, I thank you for visiting and invite you to come again soon. Perhaps your New Year will begin in March instead of January. Until that time, I encourage you to invite 10 of your closest friends and family members to come and join us. We will welcome them with open arms!