by ‘Seun Salami

Last night, I made a decision.

Maybe because of the way the weather had been all weekend, but I wasn’t going to wear any of my shoes to work today. My pair of ALDO sandals would spare my shoes the risk of being destroyed by these rains.

But then of course I woke up late, no thanks to the weather, and after I had hurriedly dressed up, I began searching through my sack of socks to find a pair that would complement the shirt I was wearing.

Twenty minutes and several hisses later, I found one and then quickly moved towards my shoe rack. It was then I remembered that I wasn’t really going to wear shoes today.

Now, was I going to wear socks on my sandals? Certainly not! But I had become so accustomed to my routine of searching through my sack of socks that I couldn’t care less about my new goal which was to wear a pair of sandals today instead of shoes.

How many times do we set out on seemingly noble intentions or goals as we call them, without realising that it really goes beyond putting up a status display picture on BlackBerry that screams, “It is time for me to write a better chapter in my life…”

Well, it may really be time to write a better chapter and move on to greater things but if you don’t do the things you need to do to make it happen, I’m afraid you’ll be stuck on this chapter for a while longer.

I know you’ve heard about making your goals S.M.A.R.T, so briefly, I’ll like to share another practicable model I learnt from my mentor and then let you get back to work because really the secret is in your actions.

START

Most times, new chapters usually require new habits; new thoughts, new schedules and maybe even new friends. You need to ask yourself – what are the things you are currently not doing and may need to START doing to aid the accomplishment of your goal?

STOP

Identify those old habits that will not help you accomplish your new goal and then STOP doing them because whatever activity is not moving you towards your goal is probably taking you farther away from it.

MORE

What are the things you are currently doing that may help you achieve your goal and that you need to possibly do more of?

LESS

Finally, there are things you do right now that you may not necessarily need to stop doing, but may need to do less of to give room to other things that may speed up the accomplishment of your goal.

That said, remember that it’s not how you wish for something that will make it happen, but the culmination of all the practical steps you put in place and follow through without dropping balls.

I hope with these few points of mine; I’ve been able to convince you and not to confuse you, that you really can begin to write a new chapter for your life…practically…

Stay Inspired!