It is time to Take a Half-Time Break in 2012

Have you ever attended a sport match where, the players reach half time? During this break they refresh themselves, gather their thoughts, examine their performance during the first half and set strategy for the second half of the match. Well as you reach the halfway mark in your year, have you planned a short break to go away, regroup, refresh, rejuvenate, explore your performance during the first half of the year and set new strategy for the rest of the year?

That break is the perfect opportunity for you to assess how you are doing so far this year and to set new strategy for the second half of the year, so that you can come back firing on all cylinders when you return from your break. If you have not scheduled at least a three to four day break within the next month, where you have the opportunity to refresh and rejuvenate your mind and body, I suggest you look at your calendar today and put this crucial goal achievement tool into your calendar. During this halftime break, it is crucial you recharge your batteries, assess how you played during the first half of 2012 and set a new strategy for the rest of the year.  This new strategy will set the tone for how you are going to tackle the rest of this year.

It is crucial that you explore all your goals and without beating yourself up for any poor results, assess how you are doing against your expectations. As Anthony Robbins said so eloquently, “We often overestimate what we can achieve in a year and significantly underestimate what we can achieve in a decade”. So if you are not tracking as well as you would like against your expectations, it may be that you were too optimistic when you set your goals earlier in the year. As Anthony said, you may have extended yourself for the year, but watch this spot, for with focus and discipline, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in a decade.  

It will most certainly not serve you to engage in any negative self-talk and criticism at this stage of the year. Now is the time to assess your performance from a non-emotive position. If you have not achieved the results you wanted, it simply means that the actions you are taking are not delivering the results you expected or you are trying to achieve too much. During this break it is crucial that you evaluate where you are in terms of achieving your goals, with an open and exploring mind. As you approach the hallway mark through the year, explore your goals and answer these few questions.

·         How many goals have you achieved so far this year? Reward yourself for a job well done and languish in the glow of this great achievement. It is crucial that you use any successes as a springboard for achieving similar results for the remainder of the year. If on the other hand, you have not achieved any successes so far this year, know that after, this break, where you reassess how you have done so far this year and you get the focus you need for the second half of the year. Achieving your goals will be far easier for the remainder of the year; things will only get better from here.

·         How many of your goals are you on track to achieve? It is better to put a few goals on the backburner for the moment and to focus on trying to do less, for the remainder of the year. If you continue doing things the way you have for the first half of the year, you will most certainly keep getting the same results. Shake things up a bit and get more focus. It would be better to put some goals on hold for the moment and to reach the end of the year, having achieved one small goal, than it would be to continue trying to achieve all your goals and you reach December, having achieved very little.

·         Have you set too many goals for yourself to achieve? Take a real honest look at your goals and see whether you have set too many goals and as such you are chasing after your own tail, not achieving much. Would it not be better to pull out only one priority goal at this point and to focus all your energy on achieving just that one goal for the rest of the year?

·         If there are some goals that you have not even managed to tackle so far this year. Take the pressure off and file them away for later. The more you can reduce the amount of overwhelm you feel and the more focus you can get, the better equipped you are to achieve your goals.

·         Are the actions you are taking every day delivering the results you need? Explore your daily actions and see if you can discover a way to polish, massage or change them in any way, to help you improve the outcomes you are currently enjoying. If you keep doing things the way you have for the first half of the year, you will continue to get the same results. If you want different results, you will need to do things differently.

Where you are right now and what you have managed to achieve until now, is the perfect place to start and the ideal place from which to create the circumstances you need to achieve your goals for the rest of the year. It does not serve you or your goal achieving efforts to beat yourself up about what has not worked until now. Grab the reigns of your life and do things better for the remainder of the year. All you can ask of yourself is your best. As long as you are giving your best every day and you are taking meaningful actions, which will allow you to gradually move toward your vision and dreams, you will succeed in the end. I wish you only the best for the remainder of this incredible year.

 http://www.andrewhorton.co.za