Jesse Owens says, “We all have dreams, but in order to make these dreams into reality it takes an awful lot of determination, self-discipline and effort.”

Keeping New Year Resolutions, and following through on goals, requires that same determination, self-discipline and effort to be successful. First let’s understand the meaning of each of these words.

• Determination is the power or habit of deciding definitely and firmly with a direction to a certain end result.

• Discipline is a commitment to yourself, to do what you have to do even when you don’t want to do it.

• Effort is amount of the total work done to reach a particular end result.

• Success is the progressive realization of worthwhile goals.

Goals are resolutions – that is what motivates us. Resolutions, like goals, are our desires. Without goals or resolutions, there is no reason to act, no motivation to take daily actions or go the extra mile.

Key factors in making a successful resolution are firstly, a person’s confidence that he or she can make a change in behavior, and secondly, their commitment (discipline) to making that change.

Behavior is the manner in which you conduct yourself. It is the way you behave, the way you act, function or react. Appropriate behavior drives opportunities as you will learn to target your efforts. Opportunities come from setting goals, written S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

What do you want out of life, career or out of your business? Who could determine this for you and who can make it happen? What are the daily behaviors that you must apply to live the life of your dreams or to make your career or business a success?

It is those daily behaviors, and when you implement them, that will make a big difference in your level of success. Once you identify these behaviors and times and stick to them, watch your time management skills and results improve dramatically.

Behaviour, like attitude, starts with you. What you do for a living is a choice you made. But there is a reason you made that choice and that choice goes beyond making money. Sure money has something to do with it, but it is not the money that gets you out of bed in the morning – it is what you want to do with the money that keeps you motivated.

It is the realization of your dreams, and dreams can be realized when you take the time to organize, plan and put your plan into action.

You have to decide what you want to do, plan it out, and discipline yourself to make it happen, from the inside out, not the outside in. I’ve seen people overcome stuttering, go from poverty to riches, from having no self-confidence to great confidence in themselves. How?

They determined what they wanted, created a plan, complete with action steps, and then monitored and measured their progress. They very literally disciplined themselves to make it happen.”

One of the greatest learning’s I discovered working in sales was how we were always setting sales targets and objectives, and being measured against them. This is a good practice and keeps us focus on our sales targets. So why not apply those same goal setting and monitoring strategies on our personal lives so that we too can stay focused on our dreams and end up where we want to be.

Today, in most organizations, management devotes enormous energy to setting work objectives and conducting performance reviews for individual employees. Corporations go through this time-consuming and costly exercise to ensure the most favorable results for their firm.

In professions such as sales, considerable time is spent questioning, listening, discovering and understanding the needs of clients in order to provide a recommended solution or action plan.

In contrast, how much time and energy do you expend discovering your own needs and desires, and then consciously setting objectives, developing action plans with measurable performance standards, and finally reviewing your own performance? By engaging in such an exercise, you will be doing something about your life. You will be going to work on yourself, for yourself. This is where the real behavior has to start.

I refer you to “Online for Life: The 12 Disciplines for Living Your Dreams”. The exercises in Discipline 5, 6, 7 and 8 will help you to discover your dreams, organize them into a sense of priority and help you to determine if you are prepared to pay the price (effort) to make those dreams a reality.

When you believe in your resolutions (dreams), nothing but self-imposed limitations will stop you from achieving them. Your first step is to define your resolutions as goals. A goal is a specific and measurable result that must be achieved within specified time, resource and cost constraints.

A goal is an end, a result, and not just a task to be performed. It describes the condition we want to achieve. Our goals guide our actions and help us plan at work and at home. When we focus on our goals (resolutions), our present is determined by our future…not our past. Keep in mind that your resolutions (goals) are an extension of your values.

Finally, you need to measure and monitor your progress on an ongoing basis. Without some form of monitoring you will not be able to recognize your progress and reward yourself accordingly. This is where Discipline 11 comes in with the Monthly Monitor Chart. It helps keep you on track and makes discipline a habit by recognizing appropriate behavior. Remember, any behavior that gets recognized or rewarded, gets repeated.

If you don’t already have the book Disciplined For Life, You Are the Author of Your Future, I suggest you buy a copy. Visit www.DisciplinedForLife.com and order your personalized copy today.