This time of the year, it is the most asked question - "What are your New Year's Resolutions?"

Many people make them.

Few people sustain them.

In fact, according to research by Marti Hope Gonzales, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota cited in the New York Times this morning about 80 percent of people who make resolutions on Jan. 1 will stop making progress by Valentine’s Day.

There are a variety of factors that lead to people not being successful, but the biggest two come from the word resolution itself.

First, from the definition itself. Dictionary.com gives many definitions of the word, the the two most relevant being:

2. a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.
3. the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.

Notice that both of these are really about a decision. Decisions are important, but not nearly as important as the actions that back them up. The reason so many people set resolutions is that they are easy to set. It is (relatively) easy to decide to do something. But to make your resolution last, you must do more than decide, you must do.

Second, from the spelling of the word. Resolution conveniently begins with the letters "re". Most of us think about the letters "re" when by themselves as something we use in a letter, memo or email to describe the subject - or why we are writing. It is the why that is missing from most resolutions. You will reach more of your resolutions, goals or objectives when the reason why you want to achieve it is clearly placed in your mind and is sufficiently strong and compelling to keep you acting and moving in the direction of that goal or resolution.

We cannot underestimate the power of "why" when setting and moving towards the achievement of our resolutions or goals.

If you are reading this as you are setting your resolutions your action steps should be clear. Don't stop with the decision, get to work. And create a why - a compelling reason that is big enough and powerful enough to keep you on your new habit path.

These are ideas that I explore in great depth and provide a variety of tools and techniques for in our brand new Start Today - Make Your Next 12 Months Your Best 12 Months package. If you are serious about being in the 20% who are taking action on and succeeding in reaching or maintaining your resolutions beyond Valentine's Day, you owe it to yourself - and your why - to check out this package.

Labels: goal settting, goals, resolutions

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This is the first post in a continuing series designed to help you create a great 2008 - using questions to reflect on last year, and project into the future. All of the questions and additional information can be found in this tool, available for you to download now.

Here then is the first of the 13 projection questions . . .

What excites me about the New Year?

The list of things that excite me about 2008 is a long one. Here are some key ones:

- I am excited by the opportunity to travel overseas with my family.
- I am excited about writing my next book.
- I am excited to learn more about social networks, and build connections with more people.
- I am excited to complete some major projects with my wife.
- I am excited to impact the lives of many people and organizations through our consulting training and speaking services.
- I am excited to help people on their paths towards becoming remarkable leaders.
- I am excited about watching my kids grow up.

Thinking about the things that excite us is a great place to start in goal and resolution setting. While we'll talk more about that tomorrow, I encourage you to start getting excited, by thinking about what excites you!

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training.

Labels: goals, questions, resolutions

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At this time of the year, either just before or just after the New Year begins, many people set resolutions for the coming year. One of the reasons that many people don't succeed with the resolutions they set is that they haven't put those resolutions in context - they haven't reflected on the past to set goals that will have a better chance of success.

This is why I created the 26 Questions to Make Your 2008 Great tool.



Over the last couple of weeks, I have been answering the first thirteen reflection questions. Here is the list, and the links to those posts.

1. What did I learn this year?
2. What did I accomplish this year?
3. Which accomplishments am I proudest of?
4. Knowing what I know now, what would I have done differently?
5. What will be my greatest lasting memories of this year?
6. In what ways did I contribute?
7. What were my biggest challenges or obstacles?
8. What obstacles did I overcome?
9. Who are the most interesting people I met?
10. How have they changed my life?
11. How am I different now than I was at the start of the year?
12. What am I most grateful for?
13. What else do I want to reflect on?

Reflection is of course only half the picture. The picture of Janus, the Roman God of beginnings and endings (and the root of the name of January) at the start of this post is on purpose. We must look back to learn and set context, then when we look forward in projection, we will have much greater success.

In this spirit, I will blog for the next thirteen days on the 13 projection questions in my free tool. I invite you to join me to read and answer the questions for yourself. I hope you will comment and if you blog, pick one or more of these questions to answer on your blog as well.

The point of all of this is to help all of us create a great 2008.

Thanks for joining me on this journey.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training.

Labels: learning, questions, reflection, resolutions

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