Goal Achievement Tip From The 12th Day of Christmas!

"goal achievement" "The Great Gordino"The Christmas holiday period always sparks up lots of optimism and talk of goal achievement. I see lots of lessons and tips that can give nudges forward, and in this article I’m writing about one prompted by the 12th day of Christmas…

 

The 12 day of Christmas is January 5th, right? That’s when the decorations must come down if they are still up, or bad luck will follow. It’s a time in tradition to mark the end of the celebration.

 

Have the celebrations actually been going on for 12 days though? According to the song they have been, “on the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 12 drummers drumming”

 

Noisy.

 

In the build up to Christmas, which in the shops starts in September, that song is sung many times along with all the other traditional carols. The build up to the event grows and grows, and when Christmas comes it’s like a release on a pressure valve.

 

What gets me every year, is that as soon and Christmas Day and Boxing Day are over, the shops consider that the whole Christmas celebration is over. The Easter Eggs creep out onto the shelves, so help us all. I’ve always thought that the retail industry misses a trick here, that they could use the 12 days of Christmas as a marketing tool.

 

I find that watching the social networks, so many people express their relief that it’s all over, and this is on the 26th or 27th December! It’s normally the people who posted that they have got all their presents sorted way back in, you guessed it, September!

 

So, what’s the goal achievement tip to be found in all this..?

 

Well, it’s about seeing things through. Christmas is not being seen through in these examples, and that’s what happens so often with goals.

 

The New Year resolution is an obvious hook to use, but I want to think about goal achievement in general, goals set at any time of year.

 

They are set with thoughts of how great it will be to have the goal achieved, but as time goes by, maybe when the first hurdle is hit, or even because no action is ever taken in the first place, the novelty factor of setting the goal fades.

 

This leads to belief in the goal fading, again if it was ever really there in the first place, and whole thing grinds to a halt. It only comes back into focus when you realise that you have not achieved the goal you set all that time ago – this realisation may not come until the *next* 12 days of Christmas!

 

So, think to your goals, think how many times you have just let them slip back to nothing because you didn’t see them through? You can use the 12th day of Christmas as a prompt to ask yourself why you set off with such great intentions but never do follow up.

 

The answer usually lies in lack of action. Lack of action comes from setting the goal incorrectly in the first place, i.e. lack of real belief which leads to the wrong attitude, which always impacts on action (or lack of action!)

 

Next time you embark on a new goal, when you get 12 days in, sing the song to yourself, stop and have a good hard look at your progress and make sure you are sticking at your goal all the way through. It might just be the tip to push you through that inertia and make amazing changes!

 

That’s it for today – do let me know what you think!
‘Til Next time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Don’t forget you can grab my motivational book ‘Transform Your Life In 21 Days!’ for just $1 during January by taking the trial of my coaching programme Transform Your Life Now!

 

Do leave a comment!

Leave a Comment

8 Comments

  • goodness is it the 12th day already? Good I had planned on that task today. Not my favorite and makes me sad, having to rewrap ALL those ornaments..

  • Now, as a musician, why didn’t I think of that? Actually, I’m usually all carolled out by the time Advent comes round. Seriously, though, I’m totally with you on the ‘lack of action’ thing. I often wonder if it’s a sabotaging technique. If so, it’s very effective. Thanks for your wise words today.

    • Hi Susan,
      I’m a musician too – although audiences might beg to differ. I think you’re right about the lack of action being a self sabotage thing, but then that can in turn be traced back to a belief issue, both in the goal and/or in our worthiness of the goal.
      Cheers,
      Gordon

  • Great story – I have never really thought about it like that. I do think follow through can be challenging after all the initial excitement has calmed down, but that is usually when the best things happen, when you keep moving, even though you don’t want to!

    • good point Stacey aboout keeping moving even when you don’t want to! Although the more action you take, the easier it does get, because the progress made can be seen.
      Cheers, Gordon

  • Oh, no! We only put down our Christmas tree yesterday, which was the Epiphany or Three Kings celebration. I’m sure Christ and the three kings would be kind enough to block any bad luck.

    I agree with you, Gordon. Set clear goals. Focus on it. Stick to it. Act on it.

    • Hi Maria,
      Sticking to it and seeing it through is a massive key to goal achievement and a cause of so many people not getting there!
      Thanks for stopping by,
      Cheers,
      Gordon