My teenage son and I sat down last night for a cozy fireside chat. He has an exciting couple of years ahead of him as he finishes his studies and has a ‘gap’ year overseas. He was really worried about what would happen after that – especially when in these difficult times young people are finding it increasingly challenging when they leave college. It was clear that his worry and concern was overshadowing his short-term thoughts and actions.

I think this sometimes happens to all of us. We allow worry about what may or may not happen in the longer term to creep into our lives and adversely impact on our well being in the present. This then impacts our short-term performance, which can then impact our longer term results. It’s a dangerous loop, especially as worry is normally a wasted emotion which consumes too much energy! Most of the things people worry about turn out not to have been worth worrying about!

I think it’s fundamentally important to have a vision for your future – a vision that engages you and excites you. Once you’ve done this, work it back to the present, and the actions you can be taking right now that matter. Live life with purpose. If you must worry, concern yourself with what needs to be done today, this week, this month, not something far away. I heard someone say recently “Sometimes on the way to your dream you get lost and find a better one” – and it’s so true. The world is changing by the minute, and our visions for our futures will be shaped as we progress along our journeys.

I’ve designed the magicnumber.com goals tool to work in exactly this way, taking a long-range vision and breaking it down until you have short-term actions you can take today. Making short-term progress builds longer-term momentum and creates a feeling of fulfilment.

Visualise your future but concern yourself with the present. Live life on purpose and enjoy the journey!

As we approach the half way point in January, many people will have broken their new year’s resolutions and will be back to their old ways.  They wanted to make positive change in their lives, realised how good it would be if they could follow through and make it happen, but

On New Years Eve, I set my good friend Bart and our sons a challenge – cook a 7 course, high quality restaurant standard meal for us all to enjoy!  Bearing in mind that neither Bart nor any of our 5 sons (aged 12 to 17) have any cooking experience and that each was responsible for cooking one course, to them, this initially seemed almost impossible!  However, after a proper briefing and planning meeting, 6 hours of preparation, all 7 wonderful courses were delivered to a truly exceptional standard.

I explained to Bart and the boys that successful delivery of an astonishing outcome – in this case, a meal that was really difficult to cook – was going to be dependent on 6 key things:

 ·      careful planning

·       organised preparation

·       the quality of the ingredients

·       following known success practices (ie, a recipe)

·       presenting the finished product in the best way possible

·       the attitude with which they tackled their challenge

Despite the hard work and seemingly daunting task that lay ahead of them, the attitude of the guys in the kitchen was so positive – there was no bickering, no disagreements (despite there being 7 of us in a small kitchen!) and the way in which they approached the challenge ahead of them was undoubtedly the ‘magic’ ingredient to their success.

At the end of the day, the boys gained tremendous satisfaction in learning something new, achieved something they never thought possible, had great fun and, importantly, reaped the benefits and gratitude for all their hard work and preparation by enjoying a stunning meal with family and friends.

It was a great way to see in the New Year but why, you may be thinking, am I sharing this with you.  Here’s why…

The success that you have in 2012 will be based on these same principles.  The extent to which you plan and prepare for the year ahead, giving thought to the outcomes you’d like to achieve, how you follow ‘recipes’ (known success practices) and the care and attention that you take is just like cooking an exceptional meal – but on a bigger scale!

Having just returned from a thoroughly enjoyable and gastronomic New Year’s break with some good friends, I wanted to wish you all a happy, prosperous and healthy start to 2012.  It’s that time when we all tend to take stock of the year behind us and to plan for the one ahead, often with every intention

Tomorrow is Christmas Day, and I wanted to write and thank all of you who have been following my blog and wish you a very Happy Christmas!  There’s a lot of excitement in our house, with my wife, three children and a new puppy all looking forward to Christmas and time with family and friends.  Burton Hillis once said “The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other”, which is so true.  I hope that whatever you’re doing and wherever you are, you have a magical time!