It’s the last day of 2016 and many people set “New Years Resolutions” for the new year. I choose not to do that because statistics show that most resolutions are not kept and in fact are abandoned by sometime in February.

I set goals for me dreams, goals for my business and goals for myself. Dreams without action are only fantasies and you have to take action to make your dreams come to fruition.

Sometimes that means taking risks and putting it all on the line. The below video of Susan Boyle auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent is one of my favorite examples of someone taking a big risk to make their dreams come true. Everyone in the place was laughing at her because she didn’t look glamorous and was a little bit quirky. They assumed she was going to be a flop and get booed off the stage.

Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent

It’s sad that people make assumptions based on appearance but since we are a visual society and social media, photo shopping and celebrity hype has made looks a judgment of worth and value, that’s where everyone goes right away in their assumptions.

The thing is she went for it anyway and it was the moment her dream of becoming a professional singer came true. The best part is the judges realizing that they judged her wrong. She dreamed of being as famous as Elaine Paige. Her dream took a turn even she didn’t expect when she was able to perform with Elaine Paige.

My goals and dreams include many things and today I’m reflecting on and writing down my intentions for the next year. I align my goals with my faith, write them down and make an action plan to get them done. The most important thing is I celebrate the success when I achieve the goal.

For example: Last year I set a goal to achieve the Accredited Speaker designation in Toastmasters and put together a plan to make it happen. The plan included an entire process to achieve the goal which I wrote about in this blog post:

http://eldonnalewisfernandez.com/2016/08/30/journey-achieve-goal-toastmasters-accredited-speaker-68/

This post has also been repurposed and was published in the next issue of Toastmasters magazine.

This years goals include capitalizing on that designation to further move my speaking career to a higher level and help more people.

What are your goals for the year? Take time to write out an intention plan to include your goals and dreams, the steps you will take to accomplish them and the celebration you will have when you achieve them.

To your success! Happy New Year!