Resolutions

It's that time of year again - here we are on the last day of 2017.  Everywhere you look, there's a post or article on making New Year's Resolutions.  Inevitably, these discussions end up with a statement providing statistical proof about how terrible we are at keeping our resolutions.  For example, I read one post this morning (from Professor Michael Roberto, one of my favorite bloggers!) that cites a LinkedIn study that showed that 63% of professionals used "To Do" lists, daily (or weekly) goals, or resolutions - not surprisingly, 41% of the items on these "To Do" lists are never completed.  I found another article from last year that stated that about 80% of all New Year's Resolutions fail by the month of February.

While I am no expert in this area, I think we are missing at least half of the process when we prepare a list of resolutions or goals for the coming year.  Just as important, and most likely to be forgotten, is the process of carefully reviewing last year's resolutions or goals and reflecting on what was accomplished, as well as what failed and the reasons for both.  Reflection helps us think more carefully about the new resolutions and goals that we make for the new year.  Did we aim too high or too low?  Did we really mean it when we listed those resolutions last year?  In other words, were we just going through the exercise or were we serious about getting down to business?  As I reflect on the resolutions that I made around this time last year, I can see definite areas where I aimed too high.  I also see some areas where I sold myself short and aimed far too low.

Once you have adequately reflected upon last year's goals and resolutions, then and only then is it time to come up with new ones for the year.  I have found it most helpful (at least for me) to write down my goals and resolutions somewhere.  I keep the list of goals and resolutions handy, so that I can refer back to them throughout the year.  I cross each goal off once I have achieved it.  I also try to come up with both short-term (monthly, quarterly, and yearly) as well as long-term (5 year) goals for myself.  The short-term goals can be modified and adapted throughout the year - for example, if something more pertinent comes along that I need to re-dedicate my time and effort towards, I will review my old list of goals and take something off.  Finally, I have found it helpful to keep the list relatively short - usually 5 to 10 short-term goals is more than enough.

Goal-setting is an important part of both your personal and professional life.  The end of one year and the beginning of the next is a great time to go through and review the progress you have made over the last year.  It's an even better time to set goals for the coming one.

As 2017 comes to a close, I would like to take this time to wish all of you a very happy, prosperous, safe, and fulfilling 2018.