It’s the time of the year that we look down from our holiday unit or survey the ocean before us and do a brainstorm of New Year resolutions. Well that is what I have often done and sometimes it works out for me and other times I still have a long list of New Year resolutions at the end of the year that have not been actioned. Does this happen for you in your personal life or in your small business?
I recently came across two people who questioned this practice and effectively asked independently, ‘Do you need New Years resolutions or a single whole hearted ommitment?’
Seth Godin in discussing intentions to improve productivity for the year, concluded sagely:
You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment.
He suggests that once you make a real commitment, then all the tips and hints in the world will not be needed – the commitment will drive the improved productivity.
In an earlier post, I mentioned a conversation I had on Google + that started with Chris Brogan recommending a video by Tom Terwilliger. Tom’s video, Get Audacious in 2012, recommends:
…invoking some real passion by setting an empowering, challenging and audacious goal for the new year.
As Tom illustrates in his video, setting an audacious goal will drive other sub-goals and activities in line with the goal. So instead of setting a dozen New Year resolutions around health, fitness and diet, you might set a single goal – ‘To get fit so that I can play actively with my energetic children. This goal, if fully committed to, will drive changes in your behavior such as more exercise and a better diet.
I have found personally that a single overarching, challenging goal has led me to change lots of things that were getting in the road of achieving that goal – e.g. my goal to create a blog post daily has led to changes in the way I spend my time on the Internet (a lot less aimless browsing), reduced the time I spend reading email, limited the time I spend watching TV or movies and increased my commitment to walk daily. The daily blogging schedule is driven by my desire to develop an online business in small business marketing, in addition to my offline business.
So as the New Year gets underway, are you going to persist with your New Year resolutions or commit to a single overarching goal that is audacious and captures your passion and creativity?