Here it is again. Time to evaluate our resolutions from last year and set new ones for the upcoming year. If you are like me you will dwell more on the goals we set and did not achieve more so than the accomplished ones. I usually add these non-achieved items to my list again for the upcoming year. In the last few years, whether it be from gained wisdom or old foolishness I don’t know, I have started looking at the reasons of failure or non-achievement. I see that sometimes goals were half-heartedly set and taken for granted. Others were not obtainable and should have never been set as a goal. I don’t know whether this is an age thing but I am tired of being too busy and not getting stuff done. This year is going to be a little different. I hope that this may be of help to some of our readers. I have been a “loner” most of my life. I never asked friends or family to hold me accountable for any goals I set for myself. I was always my own worst critic and drove myself to insanity being a micro-manager and self-analyzer. The last few years have become years where the pendulum swung. And man did it swing. It doesn’t seem as if I have accomplished anything that I wanted to. This relates to all aspects of life – health, business, personal achievements, family and much more. The lack of accomplishment of late and a good reading of Bob Buford’s “Halftime” has me looking to be a vibrant goal setter this year. What better time to come to grips with these issues than at the turn of a year! I have discovered that I need to be accountable to someone or something besides myself. So this year I am going to produce a goal plan and create check points for myself, friends, and family to help me evaluate progress along the way. This accountability seems to rattle my cage a little. This process can be used not only for goals you may need encouragement to accomplish but those which are easy as well. I have started carrying a small tape recorder with me when I am on road trips. I have found that “road time” is one time that I think of stuff that I never do anywhere else. The reason for this is that I am accomplishing something, that is getting somewhere, and able to think at the same time. So I don’t feel guilty for not being busy. When I think of something that I may want to do I just speak it into my recorder. This only works if you listen to your “notes”. I developed this recorder thing when we needed some business ideas and everyone was heading in a different direction. We went about 6 months and never listened to what we were saying to the recorders – accountability again. But when we did, it was amazing how important a few of the thoughts from my partners were to the generation of new business. I now use this practice for personal goal setting. You may be wanting to ask how this relates to elk hunting. Well, I will tell you now. If we set goals to go on a demanding hunt and don’t set timeline goals the hunt WILL sneak up on you. I am not only speaking of physical preparation but all the other stuff that can contribute to a hunt’s outcome. So make this year one for which you put some checks in place to keep you accountable for your goals. Maybe you can relate to this. I am due to pick my buddies up at 3am tomorrow morning to go on our annual small-mouth fishing trip. I have two hours to get my gear together, boat checked out, and line changed on my float-n-fly rod. I have known about this since last New Year’s trip. I always work better under pressure but I believe it would be more enjoyable for my family, and myself, if I was prepared for the trip ahead of time. I hope that this may help someone get off first base this year and be prepared for the hunt of a lifetime.