The first key to accomplish your goals?  Alignment.  With who you really are.  What emotional needs drive you.  And align your emotional state to set yourself up for success.  Hear my story of insomnia, why lack of alignment was keeping me awake, what I did about it, and how you can apply these principles to your own goals.

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On This Episode

Rhythm of Life – My Year End Review and What Popped Out
Random Riffs – From Plimsolls to Pumas
Feature Segment – How to Make Your Goals Align With You

Rhythm of Life – My Year End Review and What Popped Out

Today I did my end of year review.  Sometimes I follow a structured model, but this time I didn’t.  I decided to just start writing and see what would come out.  See where my mind would take me.

Listen to hear what popped out when I did this.  Some positive, and some not-so-positive.

Was I perfect?  Not by a long shot.  Did I grow?  Yes.

I also decided on my word for the year – CONNECT.  What’s your One Word for 2017?  Let me know by leaving a comment.  And check Episodes 033 and 035 for more information about One Word.

Random Riffs – From Plimsolls to Pumas

Do you know how sneakers got their name?  I didn’t until I looked it up.

Until the 1950s, sneakers were just for sports.  But in the 1950s, kids began wearing them as fashion statements.  That’s when advertising got into the act.

When I was a kid, my parents bought us a pair of Keds.  We’d wear them until they either wore out or we outgrew them, whichever came first.  One year I insisted that I wanted PF Flyers instead.  Why?  Because I had seen so many commercials for these sneakers.

I bugged my parents so much that they relented.  And the sneakers didn’t deliver as advertised.

Anyway, sneakers sold in the US were mostly made in the US until the 1970s.  At that point, offshoring started happening in big way.  US-made footwear today accounts for only 1% of the total market.  But recently Adidas announced it was building a plant in Georgia.   Listen to hear why and how it could change the sneaker industry.

Feature Segment – How to Make Your Goals Align With You

I suffered from insomnia for more than 8 years.  For a long time I just put up with it.  When I got sick, I realized I couldn’t do it any more.

In Episode 057, I told you why most goal-setting programs don’t work.  And setting this goal of mine didn’t work either.  The main reason why I didn’t achieve my goal was because my goal wasn’t aligned to who I really am.

Is there something you’ve wanted to do for a very long time?  Maybe you’ve tried it…more than once?  If so, you may want to spend some time aligning your goal to who you are.

Let’s start with Tony Robbins’ list of the 6 human needs.  Four are baseline needs.  We will always find a way to meet these needs, whether that way is positive or negative.  The other two are where fulfillment comes from.  Some of us never get to those, as we’re still in survival mode.

Two links from Tony Robbins that further explain these needs:

TED Talk
podcast

I put Tony’s words to the test.  What I found was eye-opening.  And helped me to align my goal to who I am.  I suggest you do the same.  Listen for the steps I took.

I saw that I was trying to prove my significance in some healthy ways, and also some not-so-healthy.  Because I see this, I can now make other better choices.

Love is important to me too.  And sometime when love isn’t possible, I’ll settle for connection.

When I set a goal to move my bedtime earlier to 11:30, it didn’t align with what needs were driving my actions, as unhelpful as they were.  In order for me to go to bed earlier, I had to find other ways to meet both needs.  I had to align my goal to what was really driving me underneath.

Can you see why it wasn’t a simple matter of deciding?  If I did, I’d experience real loss.  I didn’t recognize that when I started trying, which explains why I didn’t succeed.  I needed to recognize and mitigate those losses somehow so my important needs could be met.  And I needed to acknowledge that some of my “needs” weren’t so healthy in the first place.

If you apply the same thought process to your situation, can you see why this is a lot harder than you thought?  Why maybe you haven’t succeeded thus far?  And will you stop beating yourself up for it?

Can you also see how powerful this is?  How potentially liberating?

And there’s more.  You want to make sure your emotional state aligns with accomplishing your goal.  Now you don’t need years of therapy to deal with this.  Listen to hear how you can do to improve your emotional state.

Other resources to help with this:

Episode 014
Find Beauty in EVERYday course

Goal achievement isn’t one size fits all.  And you may feel that alignment is slow, unnecessary, or even ridiculous.  It isn’t.  It’s faster than the alternative.

So what have you got to lose?  And if you run into a hiccup along the way, reach out to me at Kathleen@kathleenannthompson.com.

Remember: the world needs your song.  Sing it in perfect harmony.

If you want to share your OneWord, or a special goal for 2017, leave a comment.