On the first day of February it’s time to talk about goals and plans for the year.

Have you made any resolutions yet?
Have you kept them so far?

If you’ve already broken your resolutions, it’s not too late.  But I bet a little focus might go a long way to helping your achieve your goals.

For 2012 I have a one word plan. I’ll share that one word plan with you in a minute but first I want to spend a little time on what I did last year and why I think it didn’t work.

My Three Words Last Year

For the past year or two I’ve followed the example of Chris Brogan of choosing three words to define my focus for the upcoming year. I have a number of friends, such as Steve Grossman, who do the same and I know we’re not the only ones.

Last year my three words were Steadfast, Courageous, and Intentional and I failed miserably. Sure, I was sometimes steadfast, sometimes intentional, and occasionally courageous. But they certainly didn’t define my year. I didn’t have razor-like focus or execution.

Note: The problem might have been the words themselves; all those words need something to be steadfast, courageous, or intentional about. But that’s a different article.

So, as I was thinking and praying about 2012, I thought perhaps three words were too many. Perhaps I should just focus on one thing to define my year. Sure, I can have multiple goals but I need to have a single focus. At least for 2012.

Have you ever considered that?

Have you considered having a single focus for a time?
Perhaps a single focus for your life?

My One Word Plan for 2012

My focus for 2012 is Fitness – being fit. Now that often conjures up images of hours in the gym or crazy diet plans. And there is certainly room for these kinds of things in my life – I call them “breakthrough events.” But that’s not really my focus.

Turning Breakthrough Events into Habits

My real focus to take those “breakthrough events” and turn them into habits of fitness. To develop a lifestyle of fitness. And I don’t just mean physical fitness. I’m talking about life fitness.

You see, some areas of my life have been too fat, some too thin, some too lazy, and some too active. I’ve been out of balance, so my focus is to develop habits of fitness across the board.

• Spiritual
• Relational
• Physical
• Financial
• Professional
• Intellectual

How about you?

Are you too scattered? Do you need to think about a single focus for the year instead of scattered “breakthrough event” goals?

Why not share your focus or goals for 2012?

Photo credit: Jasper Johns