The standard refrain so many of us hum once the New Year has passed is our inability to follow through on those ‘resolutions’ – gifts to one’s self - meant to change our lives with an assortment of personal desires: getting out of business, going into business, weight loss, smoking abstinence, more found time, a profitable year, and saved funds are some popular ones.

Why is it so hard to make them happen? Do we make these yearly promises with the underlying belief that ‘a promise made to me is less important than a promise made to another’? Is it easier to believe our own excuse for not starting and not following through than if we heard it from some one else who let us down following through on their promises?

Here’s an idea to make it a little easier on yourself: When you make this year’s resolution, make it a SMART one – one that is Small/Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Results oriented and Time dependent. Set your goal so that it’s easily accomplished (small and specific – so that would be ‘leave the office 15 minutes earlier by next Tuesday’ instead of ‘take off a week sometime this year’), you know how effective it is (measurable – you can see the clock on your way out the door), you know what to do to accomplish it (actionable – you know what you’ve got to do to get those 15 minutes, don’t you?), you know exactly the benefit it will provide (results oriented – 15 precious minutes!) and you know when it will be reached (time dependent – that’s next Tuesday, not some vague day in the future).

Write down these 5 points and fill in the blanks simultaneous with making the ‘resolution’ and you will have created an actual plan to follow through and make it real. And if you really want to gift yourself, you’ll tell at least 5 people about this plan who’ll look forward to hearing about the success you enjoyed when it’s accomplished. This is what we coaches call ‘accountability’.

The gift of personal accomplishment is empowering and stimulating, and, its biggest benefit to you is the desire it will create to have another win (your next gift) immediately after the first: this week - 15 minutes; next month - 1/2 hour! So give yourself a real gift – the opportunity and ability to make personal promises your personal reality. I’ve given you the tools – execution is up to you. If you find this works, I’d love to hear from you and offer you the official “Atta girl/boy” congratulations!

Andrea Feinberg, M.B.A., G.C.U., is president of Coaching Insight. She uses professional coaching techniques to help small businesses maximize the under used assets they possess. The result is marketing success, visionary leadership, effective goal setting, productive time management, enhanced employee performance and occasionally, time off. She can be reached at 631.642.7434 or andrea@coachinginsight.com

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