If nothing changed in your life over the next five years, would that be perfectly okay with you?

If you answered “yes,” you’re incredibly blessed or a little naive. After all, very few people have lives, careers, and relationships that are so perfect that there’s no room for any improvements whatsoever. Most of us want things to be at least a little better.

There’s only one catch. If you want things to be better in your life, health, finances, job, team, family, spirituality, or anything else … if you want those things to be better five days, five weeks, five months, or five years from now … you’ve got to DO SOMETHING.

After all, your chances of things getting better in any of those areas WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING are about the same as winning the Powerball lottery. About zero.

As we approach a New Year, let me tell you how you can ensure a better year for yourself, your business, your family and everything else that is important to you.

► 1. Don’t let somebody’s else garbage stink up your New Year.

As you go through life, you will have obstacles, situations, and people who get in your way. You can let those things defeat you or you can take an enlightened taxi-driver approach.

Let me explain.

When speaking at Boeing, one of participants told me,

“One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly another car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy, and I mean he was really friendly.”

“So, I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'”

“That is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, The Law of the Garbage Truck. He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.”

The bottom line is that the Champions in this world do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Champions just keep on going … no matter what.

Are you more like the garbage driver or the taxi driver? My New Year’s wish for you is that you learn to become more like the Champion taxi driver.

► 2. Set some juicy goals for the New Year.

That’s right. Juicy goals. Goals that get your juices flowing, goals that get you excited, goals that make you want to get out of bed in the morning and take on your piece of the world.

By contrast, dried-up goals are more like fatalistic attitudes: “Another day, another dollar … or … I’ve just got five more years, three months, and two days and I’m outta here.” Oh sure, you can get by with goals like that, but you’ll never get ahead with those kinds of goals.

I want you to establish some juicy goals. Simply start by asking yourself: “What goals would you set for yourself if you could not fail?”

Don’t start by asking if your potential goal is possible or impossible. Don’t worry about failing. Just focus on what you want and let that be your guideline for setting your goals.

► 3. Write out your goals as affirmations for the New Year.

With your goals figured out, you must keep them in the forefront of your mind.

And the best way to keep your goals front and center is to write them out as affirmations and repeat them to yourself several times a day. Indeed, the people who attend my Journey-to-the-Extraordinary experience are constantly telling me how this process has changed their lives.

Bob Wernimont from Syngenta writes,

“For many years ’I’ve heard that you need to write down your goals and say affirmations, but I didn’t know how to do it. So I never did it … until I came to the Journey.

Using the practices you taught us, my confidence, listening, conversing, motivation, energy, and enthusiasm have all improved dramatically. The affirmations remind me of my goals and push me toward the accomplishment of those goals. It really is quite awesome!”

► 4. Learn faster in the New Year.

The world is changing faster than ever before. That means we’ve got to be learning faster than we ever did before or we’ll be outdated, out of touch, out of power, and left behind.

For the New Year, you need to get smarter quicker. You need to refrain from making the same old stupid mistakes or getting stuck in the same old ruts. You need to get to Chapter 5 in your life a lot sooner.

Let me explain, or poet Portia Nelson explain in her wonderful poem, Autobiography in Five Short Chapters.

Chapter I

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost… I am hopeless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter II

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in this same place.

But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter III

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it there.

I still fall in… it’s a habit… but,

my eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

Chapter IV

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Chapter V

I walk down another street.

With today’s Tuesday Tip, I wish you not only a Happy New Year but a most productive one as well.