New Year’s Day has come and gone. You’ve made your resolutions and set your goals. Then whammo! The first weeks of work, urgent projects, family responsibilities . . . you are officially off the wagon before you can say ‘it’s only January’.

There is a difference between goalsetting and goalgetting.

Introducing this issue’s goalgetters:

John Banks
     Auckland City Mayor, business owner in six different industries, father and husband
Christine Rankin
    Former CEO of Work & Income, consultant, business owner (The Rankin Group), member of the     Auckland Regional Council, regular TV and radio contributor, mother and grandmother
Gray Bartlett
    New Zealand’s most famous guitarist, musical director, producer and concert promoter,                former Auckland City councillor, career strategist for Hayley Westenra,Yulia and Elizabeth             Marvelly),husband and father.
Peta Mathias
    Successful chef, award-winning writer and broadcaster, presenter of TV1’s A Taste of Home, founder and creator of the Culinary Adventures     cooking schools in the south of France and Marrakesh.

What these people have in common – apart from big lives and even bigger goals – is an ability to ‘plug in’ to their own power source and keep recharging daily.

Below is a compilation of their personal strategies collected during our interviews for achieving their goals on a consistent basis:

1. Make the most of 24 hours. Have a plan, actively manage their time, but are flexible;
2. Get rid of people with negative energy! Surround themselves with people who lift them up;
3. Have big goals, which are also SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, results- focused and time-framed;
4. Are willing to bounce back from failure at all costs. Everyone has setbacks – the 10 percent who bounce back and the two percent who persevere towards success reap the rewards and benefits;
5. Are committed to their goals and understand the entailed costs, sacrifices and rewards;
6. Are passionate to the point of bloody-mindedness;
7. Aren’t worried about being politically correct, but are living their authentic selves;
8. That money is not evil, but that the main thing is to add value to the people around them;
9. Manage their emotions effectively to drive their ambitions. Our goalgetters are not afraid to use anger, elation or frustration to drive their success;
10. That balance is important in life – but these particular goalgetters have to work hard at this, because of their natural tendency to push themselves. Their lesson is to strive for balance, but understand you can’t have it all the time if you want to be at the top of your field;
11. See in their mind’s eye exactly what they want, and create action every day to get closer to this picture. They keep motivated by visiting their goals daily;
12. Are able to find things to be grateful for, no matter what the circumstance.

This is part of a regular blog article series on livemygoals.com which features inspired people, revealing what drives them and how they achieve their goals on a consistent basis.