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Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever

Guest post by: Dave Mather

Article Overview: It's been a tough year for many of us. This classic work gives specific suggestions to create your own economy. Look for the complete self-guided booklet to download.

Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever

At the beginning of each year many people commit to worthy sounding resolutions. Others have given up on this practice since they tend to disappoint themselves by January 31. New Year's Resolutions seem to have a mixed reputation as evidenced by the crowded gym parking lots in January that quickly become less crowded by the end of the month. Many businesses have a "Business Plan" they dust off each January. An effective business plan focuses everyone's attention towards this year's key strategic priorities.

Here are several suggestions to increase the probability that this year's business resolutions will stick.

Turn your resolutions into declarations. Resolving to do something is an intent from which you are easily distracted. A declaration is a commitment, a promise. It is also a creation. Speak in the present tense as if your creation is already a reality. Act as if it is impossible to fail.

Make your declaration specific. An expressed intention will probably fail to materialize. It is too vague. What are you bringing into existence? By what date? On behalf of what bigger goal?

On a personal level, a commitment to health creates a stronger impetus for action than a desire for weight loss. With weight loss, as we move closer to our optimum weight we reduces the impetus for action and the intensity of our commitment. A larger commitment to overall health gives a weight-loss goal its power. Moving towards health creates momentum, trying to rid myself of excess weight lends itself to binges of action in contrast to steady progress towards creating something of genuine value. In business, focusing on what we don't want without a contrasting, positive vision is a fatal mistake. Vague platitudes and cookie-cutter "vision" statements are counter-productive and open to skepticism.

Declare your actual business outcome in visual language that others can picture and give its accomplishment by a specific date. Don't wish and hope you will get there someday, maybe. Establish your celebration day and take actions to move towards what you are creating.

Establish an overall purpose or theme for this year's business focus, and then create sub-goals to move you forward. Make your purpose clear and specific. "To be the best" might sound like a lofty goal, but it creates little, if any, impetus for action.

As you decide where you want to be in the market, differentiate yourself from the masses. What makes you distinct? This probably means narrowing your focus. In today's crowded business climate, one size cannot fit all. It is important to say "no" to market segments and narrow your focus. Choose your hill and take it. Trying to stay in the middle of the road will only get you run over.

A declaration is only the first of a series of steps in creating your desired future. Resolutions to be achieved "as soon as possible," are doomed to fail. Commit to a deadline. Without a deadline, it's easy to stand still. In today's business climate staying the same is not an option. But, change for the sakes of change is futile as well. If change is required, make the desired outcome the focus, not the changes required. Deadlines define when failure occurs. [I know this sounds negative, but sometimes stating it this way produces a better result.]

The most common business mistake we see in our work with organizations is over-planning. [If you do not plan, that's just as ineffective!] Many of us plan, plan, and plan some more. We're trying to "perfect" our plans. However, until you implement your first action step, most planned actions are speculative guesses at best. Write a sketch of your plan, keeping the outcomes in mind in contrast to current reality. Sketch in obvious action steps that jump out at you and immediately take step one. Evaluate the results of your action, and then make any adjustments required as you move forward.

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Article Tags: achievement, goalsetting, leadership, management



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