At this time of year we hear all about resolutions. New Year Resolutions. No one ever hears about mine other than if I am having a bit of fun with my wife. ‘I promise to lose weight if you will’, etc.

Why don’t I make New Year Resolutions? Simple, they don’t work. If we were able put all New Year Resolutions made by all of the people in the world together and that was figuratively 100. What percentage would have been achieved by this time next year? My guess is a small fraction of 1%.

So turn that round. If you set your goals and resolve to achieve them it puts you ahead of the 99.9999%. Actually achieve them and you are exceptional.

Think about it in personal terms. How many of your life goals have you actually achieved?

I have always been a results oriented person able to make things happen for a specific well defined goal which I have been involved in defining.

When I was employed, before ‘going on my own’ I achieved my positions of seniority (Chairman/CEO) because of my ability to deliver results.

It was good progress but it was not really in line with what I really wanted to achieve. Being in the corporate world eventually got in the way. That is one of the reasons I eventually ‘did my own thing’.

I am still working on my life goals. In that scenario New Year Resolutions are trivial. What is important is RESOLUTION to achieve your goals.

Resolution to be able to get to where you want to be one planned step at a time. Each step being part of the overall plan. Each goal being part of life’s goals.

If you have too many goals you will have too many steps and guess what, with everything else that goes on around us we miss the step.

I know myself well enough to realise this and yes I have objectives for the coming year.

The objectives have time frames and I am committed to achieving them. I made that commitment when I promised to report my progress to you in an earlier bulletin.

It’s like this.

1st objective by [date]. I know what I have to do in clear well thought out detail, and it’s achievable.

2nd objective by [date]. I have the date set in my mind. I know what I have to do because it is very similar to what is necessary to achieve my first objective.

3rd objective by [date]. Writing this has made me carefully think through what is necessary for achievement and I will be lucky to get it done this year. So I will give it a try.

If I do achieve three objectives this year I will have reached my goal for the year and that goal contributes to one of my life goals. At this moment the first hurdle is coming up and I have to get over it. Others are coming but they are more distant and will come into focus as I clear the preceding one.

What do we draw from all this? I have three projects for this year. I now know what is necessary to make them a success and I am committed to them.

Success will only come if I have the RESOLUTION to make it happen. Success will only come if that RESOLUTION IS THERE ALL OF THE TIME. Not just at New Year.

An opportunity (not part of the plan) has arisen for me to do something else which will earn residual income. What am I going to do? I’m going to seize the opportunity and still try to meet my program.

I can do this because I know what is needed and am resolved to meeting this years objectives. I may have to put in a few extra hours, but so what?

All of these goals will probably be met because;

1 They are all worth doing.

2 They are achievable in the time frame

3 I have thought them through in detail.

Perhaps I am lucky to be able to visualise and think in a structured manner as this helps when setting goals.

What’s more I won’t beat myself up in doing them because I know that they are achievable. Also I won’t beat myself up if I don’t meet some of the project times because I know what the overall plan is and can meet the goal by year end.

I will be careful to avoid distractions because the only way that I will get to my goal will be by being resolute and focussed.

If you are having trouble with setting your goals I recommend you take a look at Goals Magic System. Where you can get your own personal goal setting system.

You may wish to proceed differently but I suggest the common denominator in our success will be stamina, staying power and resolution – not at the New Year, but all year.

Really make it happen in 2006. Best wishes for achieving your goals.

Perseverance is not a long race; it’s many short races one after another.

Best wishes,

Michael Harrison.

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