New Year’s Resolutions? Meh…

Happy New Year!

Today, let’s talk about New Years’ Resolutions. Tonight, I will not be making resolutions. Why? 

What we know about resolutions, is that most of them fail. Why do they fail? Because they’re typically not integrated into a broader long-term personal plan. Loads of energy and attention get poured into resolutions early in the year. Then time passes, entropy sets in, the inertia of the previous status quo takes over, and the hopes and dreams of New Year’s Eve are eventually dashed—leading to disappointment and regret.

Instead, I encourage you to (a) adopt a continuous improvement and “seek to understand” mindset, and (b) develop a concrete plan for achieving your desired future state.

In my forthcoming book, The Balanced Business, I talk a lot about purpose—for corporations, institutions, and individuals. Many workforce participants are seeking to align their personal purpose with that of the organization they lend their time to. However, many of us have spent precious little time exploring our personal purpose. Why am I here? What drives me? What makes me tick?

Later in January, I’ll be launching a personal planning guidebook as a free download to help individuals determine their purpose, vision, asset inventory, personal blockers, skill gaps, goals, and metrics for success.

So if you feel the need to make a New Year’s Resolution, resolve to make the time to create your long-term personal plan. In future years, after your plan is in place, resolutions are replaced with an annual check-in on progress toward your long-term goals. The period around the New Year then becomes a type of after action review (AAR) that leads to minor adjustments or pivots to the plan based on what worked well and what you learned from “failures” throughout the year. 

Doing this work will help in the shift away from herky-jerky resolutions that have little chance of success to a New Year’s Eve in which you recommit to your long-term plan and the short term goals that represent stepping stones on the way to a brighter future state.