It’s about that time of year again when we all start setting New Year's resolutions for both our personal and professional lives, leading me to ask . . .
How many of those 2014 New Years' resolutions did you actually achieve?
Follow-up question: how many of those resolutions fell to the wayside by Valentine’s Day?
Believe it or not, there are a few tricks to both setting and achieving New Year's resolutions.
Here they are.
Write Them Down
In my opinion, if your resolutions aren’t written down, they’re not actually resolutions. They’re just ideas that may or may not happen depending on your mood.
Writing your goals down is incredibly important and is your first step to achieving them.
This study of Harvard graduate students proves just that. Of the entire graduating class, 3% of the students had written goals, 13% had goals that weren’t in writing, and 84% had no goals. Ten years later, the 3% were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% of the class combined.
Make Them Measurable
Choose a realistic timeframe and measurable details for each goal and/or resolution.
You want to be a better salesperson, huh? Well—what makes a good salesperson? Client acquisition? Client retention? Customer service?
How can you measure those things?
You have to determine these details so you know exactly when you have become a “better salesperson”.
Setting benchmarks, or smaller goals that help you achieve the larger goals, is also good practice. Break those larger resolutions into smaller, actionable steps.
Celebrate Success
What’s the point of creating all of these New Year's resolutions if you’re not going to take the time to celebrate when you achieve them?
You’ll burn yourself out if you never take the time to sit back, take a breath, and recognize what you have accomplished.
That, and life just isn’t any fun if you never stop to smell the roses.
Keep these tips in mind this year, and they’ll help you actually achieve your resolutions!
What’s one New Year's resolution you have?