We all want to improve in something.  We want to lose weight, be more efficient at work, or improve our relationship with a close friend or our spouse.  The new year will foster a renewed enthusiasm for positive change.  We run through our goals in our head, maybe even write a few goals down on paper.  Gym membership spikes, we start reading that book we’ve been meaning to read and we prep our healthy meals for the week – until about January 27th when we lose our enthusiasm, life gets in the way, and everything seems to fall apart.

What do successful people seem to do that others do not?  They write down very specific, detailed, measurable goals.  Successful people do not only write down their end goal, however.  They include a very specific strategy for how to attain each goal.  They break this strategy down into each week, each day, and each hour into sub-goals and strategies all toward the ultimate goal.

It is also important to set strict deadlines with timelines significantly shorter than a year.  The book The Twelve Week Year, by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington, reflects the importance of treating every twelve weeks as its own “year” to give oneself to accomplish two or three very specific, measurable goals.

What sort of improvements do you want to make in your life?  Increase your productivity at work? Improve your golf game?  Create a stronger relationship with a relative.  Write it down.  Create a weekly plan toward reaching that goal within twelve weeks.  Create a daily plan toward the plan.  You should be pleasantly surprised how much you can accomplish by taking these three simple steps.

Recommended book: The Twelve Week Year, by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington