Start of Series 3: In this episode I begin Series 3 with a discussion around planning for your New Year. Yes, everyone starts with great intentions in January of every new year and most have crashed and burned by the end of the month! 

I look at how January is really in the middle of my 2nd quarter of my YEAR and how this actually enables me to avoid the obvious pitfalls of the 'New Year Crush'. 

I look at how I have split my year up to fit my life cycle rather than falling into one dictated by commercial and corporate direction. My year runs concurrently with my teaching programme: Sep-Nov, Dec-Feb, Mar-May and Jun-Aug. I then split these 3 month quarters into monthly segments and also then 3 week internal cycles with a 4th week for review and update, in order that I am continually reviewing how my progress is going. 

I also discuss the fact that we have to look firstly at the big picture and then break it down into manageable pieces in order to then rebuild it just like a jigsaw as we put together all the pieces the picture becomes more and more visible until eureka..completion! Each new cycle leads to the completion of another picture but in each case we cannot complete it without taking the 'Baby Steps' that allow us to begin to be able to take bigger and bolder steps on the way to our goals, hence the need for planning and back engineering from the full picture or goal into manageable chunks. While most will have crashed and burned by the 2nd and especially the 4th week of January a little time taken for planning will ensure that you will pass through this phase and get on your path to achieving your goals. 

I talk about the areas that I use for my goal planning; Work, Personal Development, Family, Social, Sport & Recreation and how these are just for me and that while they are headings they are just that and yours may be different and you need to sit down and plan to find this out. 

Just as Schools have to be willing to make difficult decisions around some of the children that I engage with because quite simply what they have been doing to date has obviously not been effective in bringing about positive changes.  They have to be willing to look 'out of the box' because one size does not fit all. Indeed the great Albert Einstein is broadly credited with exclaiming “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”.  The individual has to be willing to make decisions and plan for a different life based upon their own unique circumstances. 

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