This is the time of year when most people are paying lip service to resolutions – they are going to exercise more, eat better, quit a bad habit, etc. But what if you set the bar a little higher than that for 2012.

What if your goal was to make 2012 your best year ever?

What if, instead of promising yourself you’ll stop snacking between meals, your resolution was to change your mindset? Your new mindset would be making this year your best.

It’s true that smaller, attainable goals can add up to big changes, but big goals are sometimes necessary, too. For example, with the mindset of making 2012 your best year ever, your big goal will help the little goals fall into place. With the overall goal of making 2012 the best, you could improve your life in so many areas:

• Spiritually

• Your career or business

• Your family

• Your finances

• Your health and fitness

• Your education


You’ve no doubt heard the old phrase “Opportunity knocks only once.” I recently read a column, I forget where, that said that notion is complete nonsense. And the more you think about it, the more you will realize it IS nonsense.

Opportunity knocks all the time. But it takes the right mindset to realize that.

Every good idea you have is an opportunity. Every project you take on at work is an opportunity. Every trip to the gym, every book you read, every conversation you have with your child – they’re all opportunities. But most people need to practice seeing things that way. I think if you open yourself up to the idea that opportunity is all around, you will see opportunities that maybe you haven’t yet.

And setting the bar high on 2012 – “best year ever” – is a great way to start. That kind of mindset almost forces you to have an open mind when it comes to opportunities. That’s the kind of big goal that REQUIRES you to start noticing opportunities. If you want to spend more time with family and friends, or if you want to significantly increase your income, get in shape – whatever – you are going to have to first recognize opportunities, then capitalize on opportunities.

The Best Year Ever mindset is ambitious. It’s BIG. But if you want real change in your life, that’s what you need. There’s another old saying: “The only way to get what you’ve never had is to do the things you’ve never done.” Chances are, you’ve lost weight before, quit smoking or watched less TV. You’ve done those things, and you have what you have.

To have the best year ever, you’re going to have to do things you probably haven’t done. That’s a sometimes scary reality for a lot of people. But it being scary doesn’t make it any less a reality. It’s easier to accomplish, however, it you make yourself accountable. And by sort of putting yourself on the spot with your “Best Year Ever” goal, you are putting the kind of pressure on yourself that will be required.

In fact, it would probably be best to share your Best Year Ever goal, because when you tell other people that sort of thing, it REALLY makes you accountable. And being accountable to such a big goal will help you make better decisions. It will force you to see the opportunities so many people miss. It could push you to live life rather than sleepwalking through it day to day.

It’s true that little, attainable goals can add up to big change over time. But sometimes, it’s that one BIG goal that kind of forces you to change all the little things so that they do add up.

So think big for 2012. Think “Best Year Ever.”