Your New Year’s Goals Will Fail … Unless You Do This

We’re fresh into the New Year. You’re full of ambition and full of energy. And, importantly, you’ve identified your goals.

You will fail.

If you leave it at that. Because a goal is simply a wish, an aspiration, a dream. It requires something more. It requires … can you guess? … yes, a plan. You need a plan to outline how you’re going to achieve each goal.

And that, for most people, is where it ends. Which is why – still – you will fail. Because a plan is simply a roadmap. And having a roadmap won’t get me to Kalamazoo. There’s still something more I need to do.

It’s like having a strategic plan. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you already know what I think of strategic plans. They sit on shelves and collect dust. To turn strategy into reality requires … can you guess this time? … a process. That’s why I’m not focused on the strategic plan as much as I am on the process that ensures the plan gets tracked, managed and executed. My primary focus is to institute a Strategic Management Process.

It’s the same with your New Year’s goal. That goal (the “what”) needs a plan (the “how”). That plan needs a process to ensure it gets tracked, managed and executed.

I dream of a day when people no longer ask, “What’s your New Year’s resolution?” They ask, “What’s your New Year’s Resolution Management Process?” (Okay, I don’t really dream of that but you get the idea!) Wouldn’t that stop people in their tracks?

All things considered, yes, it’s good to have goals. But it’s better to have plans to achieve those goals. And what’s best is to institute a process that ensures those plans get executed. That, ultimately, is the goal.