5 Ways to Make Your Business Resolutions Stick

We all make New Year’s Resolutions. Looking at a clean calendar for the new year makes it seem as though huge possibilities are waiting for us. We need to make the most of opportunities so we resolve to take better care of our families, our careers, our friends, and ourselves.

The New Year is about hope and optimism, but much of that, along with the well-intended resolutions, is often gone by March. Leaders need to be prepared for the influx of workplace excitement and keep the New Year’s momentum with these 2014 tips.

1. Make resolutions attainable. Most resolutions fail because they are impossible to maintain over time. If you pledge to work out or read business books for an hour a day, you will probably fail quickly. Travel, work, emergencies, and other people’s schedules will interrupt your goal. Decide instead to do some kind of healthy movement or reading for 5 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
2. Set up reminders. Use an app that will send you a daily reminder to drink more water, do more pushups, or call your mom.
3. Give yourself rewards when you achieve the weekly goals.
4. Don’t give up a plan just because of a failure. We need to recognize that a setback is not an abandonment of a goal. Have you even resolved to eat healthy for a week, and then had a cookie? Once you have that one cookie, you decide that the rest of that day doesn’t matter so you blow the entire diet plan and resolve again to resume the next day? Acknowledge that there will be days that are harder than others to stay on track, and pick up as soon as you can.
5. Attack one resolution at a time. My friend Scott “Q” Marcus has a program at thistimeImeanit.com and he recommends just making one change for 21 days. He says that if you can change just one habit for three weeks it becomes a habit, and it is easy to maintain that positive change.

Many people are great at intentions but lousy at execution. Getting things done is hard. Stay focused and positive.

Good luck and Happy New Year!