Will 2010 be your best year ever?  It should be!

Now that the Holiday Season is behind us, it’s time to focus on the year ahead.* If you’re as excited as I am about the year ahead, I’ve put together the following six (6) tips which I believe will allow you to not only establish clear/concise New Year’s resolutions, but actually be able to implement them in order to achieve success.  These tips came about as a result of an executive coaching conversation that I held during the Holidays with a client.  Here are the basics from that coaching conversation:

Client: “I’ve got so many things that I want to work on in 2010… I’m just a little concerned that I won’t be able to get to all of them.”

Sam: “Tell me about the ‘things’ that you want to work on.  Let’s just list them out first in no particular order.”

Client: ”Sales, the organization leaders, organization development, products, our customer retention, team building, performance reviews, marketing, overcoming the economy (again!), succession planning, the company website, recruiting, terminations…”

If you had similar thoughts, or even if you haven’t, use the following six (6) New Year’s Resolution implementation tips for success:

1. Consistency – Be consistent in your approach to setting, as well as solving, your resolutions.  Consistency from my coaching perspective primarily surrounds the principles of establishing goals that are realistic for you within the timeframe you identify.  While most executives that I coach are “hard chargers” who achieve what others think/forget about, you’ll get more done if you establish a plan of action that is consistent.  Studies have shown that your productivity will come in “waves” during the month (“Employee Engagement: What It Is and Why You Need It” BusinessWeek Online 5/11/09).  The key is to capitalize on those moments through consistent action.
2. Enjoyment – Do you enjoy the resolution that you’ve come up with for yourself?  Our studies show that if you do, you are 97% more likely to accomplish it.  So if you don’t enjoy what you’ve resoluted, then you’ll really need to focus on the outcomes that it will provide you with.  Here’s an example, one of our coaching clients wanted to focus on time management for the year ahead.  Unfortunately, while he is very productive, he is extremely insensitive to time.  It’s not that he doesn’t care about time, he’s just more comfortable working in his own “time zone”.  When he identified time management as a resolution, we drove towards the outcomes that he would receive when he would master time.  The benefits (primarily get even more accomplished, make even more money, become even more successful) were of great importance to our executive.  It’s this level of importance coupled with his desires that are our primary focal points.
3. Get Assistance – The amount of information that is available to each of us is staggering.  For example, a single issue of the New York Times contains more literature content that your grandfather encountered during his entire life!  So with information everywhere, which way should you turn?  While it’s simple to say that you need to “decide, commit and succeed” the reality is that it is often much more difficult in the real world.  We recommend researching your resolution for the current best practice that has stood a time-test (Keep in mind that what was successful ten years ago may, or may not be, successful today… Technology played a key role in the extinction of many great productivity tools!  As a result, one must locate strategies that have proven successful for others, as well as ones that can be implemented into your needs.  Finally, you’ll want to establish an accountability program (If you’d like to establish a formal accountability program that will ensure that you achieve your resolutions, contact us at 877-455-3133 or info@pathosleadershipgroup.com).
4. Be Social – I know that you have good ideas that you want to make great… However, determine if the resolutions that you’ve established are so far flung (advanced) that you couldn’t get there in 2010 with an eleven foot ladder!  All too often I find leaders during our coaching sessions that want to drive towards the “advanced” playing stages without ensuring that they have mastered the foundational “basics”.  Here’s a good tip, take a look around you and determine who in your industry/organization/space already has the resolution that you want to drive towards.  After you identify this individual, reach out to them and ask them for some help.  This will take a certain level of “swallowing” of one’s pride, but it will allow you to (1) engage with an individual who is operating successfully on the resolution you identified and (2) interview them to identify not only how they achieved such success, but formulate your own action plan.  Looking “advanced” is great, but getting “advanced” advice from someone who’s already there will save you considerable time.
5. Get Scarce – Most of the leaders who approach us here at Pathos Leadership Group like the idea of having an executive coaching relationship, but aren’t certain how they’ll be able to make the time available.  If you look deep enough at what you want to accomplish, and more importantly how you’re spending your time, you’ll find that you probably have a decision to make.  There are unproductive portions of your day.  The key is in identifying those portions of the day/week/month that drive the least productivity for you and cut them out!  One of the executives we coached last year was on several very high profile boards of directors.  While the prestige he received was good for his ego, it was bad for his productivity and pocketbook.  If you’d like to receive our Pathos Leadership Group “Influential Time Management” productivity tool, email info@pathosleadershipgroup.com and we’ll forward one to you.  Please include your contact information (First + Last Name, Company Name and Direct Phone Number) in your request.
6. Reciprocate – Success is both a journey as well as a destination.  You’ve got to give it back, even when it appears you have nothing to give!  You probably know of a few people that have prepared their own resolutions for the coming year… Why not offer to help them accomplish them?  Here are a couple of recommendations… (1) Ask if you can help without being asked, (2) put yourself in situations where you can be asked to assist, (3) give recommendations after you determine what it is that your being asked to recommend and (4) forward on the link to this article so that you can begin assisting!

2010 should be your best year!  By adhering to the above six tips towards solving your New Year’s Resolutions you may just be in position to establish new “New Year’s Resolutions” prior to the beginning of next year.  Remember… a real leader makes their own luck!

Sam Palazzolo, CPLP, PCC

*While it’s never too late to begin preparing, we recommend a more proactive timing for forecasting.  For example, we assisted most of our clients here at Pathos to begin their forecasting process in Q3 or Q4 of 2009.