This was first published on EnSpirit 

How to make 2018 your best year yet. On the 1st of every year, there are people around the globe who are starting their New Year’s resolutions. Resolutions around health, work, and relationships. However, what most aren’t doing is working out what they really want in 2018 and deciding exactly what changes to themselves that they need to make to ensure that they achieve what they most desire.

It’s important to realise that it is not just the environment that needs to change, it’s your attitude to what you see and feel and how you interact with those changes.

All mavericks (those people that are wilfully independent), need to feel in control and dislike the thought of letting others decide what their fate will be. It makes no difference, to the maverick, whether that ‘fate decider’ is their boss, partner or procrastination itself. Without control and influence, mavericks feel lost and angry, and are likely to do something that they regret bitterly.

Therefore, mavericks everywhere will have been excited to start the New Year with an overview, or mini plan, of how they will achieve personal growth and how they will influence others, based on who they are and what they do. They will have a sure-fire way of how they will control the environment around them and how this control will influence their fate for the coming year.

A maverick believes that to refuse to participate in this reflection and planning cycle, should be considered an important oversight, or a deliberate act of self-harm, and for those in business or running a business, a catastrophic sign of neglect.

Overly dramatic? Perhaps, but I don’t think so.

Mavericks believe that the only thing that can stop their success is themselves, they just don’t give someone else the power to change their own defined success trajectory. It follows therefore that if your success is up to you, only your actions can determine your success.

The maverick’s action plan for 2018

  1. Reflection, assessment, and commit

Mavericks like to reflect deeply on what has happened in the past. However, this reflection is not an abstract exercise, but a serious study of past events, their reactions to it as well as what worked and what didn’t work. They also factor in how they feel and how their own interaction with their past aided or hindered their progression.

Whilst mavericks like to see other people’s detailed plans, they do not like their own plans to be too rigid. There needs to be enough wiggle room to allow flexibility in their decision making.

Once the maverick has reflected on the past and has assessed their actions and availability for growth, they will make a commitment to themselves to implement the changes that are required, no matter how hard that might be.

  1. Set goals for the areas where success is needed

Having reflected, assessed, and committed to change, the next step for the maverick is to set goals in the area of deficit. Mavericks are highly influential, so they will set goals to enhance their ability to influence.

Influence is gained when people trust you. Trust is a hard skill, not the soft skill that many believe, and therefore spend little time developing. When people trust you, they will buy from you, whether that is a product, service, or an idea.

Therefore, to improve your trust ‘scores’ with others in 2018, specific goals should be planned around:

  • How do you prove your competency to others (before they hire you or buy your idea)?
  • Discover whether people believe that you are a person that can be trusted, and if not, what actions will you take to change this?
  • What track record do you have? Have you done, what you propose, before and was it successful?
  • What is your character? What type of person are you?

All goals/objectives need to have timescales and review points allocated to them. This is the only way that the maverick can be sure that progress is being made and things are moving forward.

  1. Make sure that you fit for purpose

Mavericks have high self confidence and no problems with their self-esteem! They understand that they should not surround themselves with toxic people or use toxic language on themselves. They do not participate in negative talk. This does not mean that mavericks are unrealistically optimistic, it just means that they always take actions that would boost their self-confidence and self-esteem.

A maverick sets a commitment to take at least one action a day that will move them forward, as to stand still for a maverick is like experiencing a slow death. They will seek to continuously learn and push themselves into areas that they have never experienced before.

Whilst Conformists may be uncomfortable with the idea, Socialised Mavericks will seek feedback from others on a regular basis so that they can improve; in all areas of their performance.

  1. Move into action

One of the things that mavericks hate, is when people talk about ‘what they are going to do’, but they never actually achieve it. Therefore, mavericks will move into action as soon as they have determined what it is that they need to do.

Mavericks are relentless in going towards their goals and achieving them. All mavericks aim for the moon and reach for the stars.

These are the 4 key things that mavericks will be doing in 2018.

You can listen to Episode 9 of The Maverick Paradox Podcast: How to make this your best year yet, below

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