I can’t help it. I’m a New Year’s nerd. The new year is a whole new world of opportunity! It’s like a breath of pepperminty fresh air as you look down a mountain of fresh powder before you get to cut your own path through the snow.

Eat better, workout more, and lose weight are the top 3 resolutions in 2019 according to Statistica. I see two interesting themes here. 1) They’re all very general. 2) Where are the professional goals?

Are you committing the time you need to set you and your business up for success? Are you leaving your personal and professional growth to a general resolution? If so, you may be destined to belong to the 92% of people each year with failed New Year’s resolutions (University of Scranton).

Isn’t your personal and professional growth, as well as your company’s success worth more than that?

The week between Christmas and New Year’s, my mind is full of thoughts about opportunities both personally and professionallyWhat can I achieve next year? What will my business do next year that it didn’t do this year? How do I want to show up? What new experience can I create that will make my life even more fulfilling than it is today? What should I stop, start and keep doing?

Then, you know what I do? I write them down. I’m not just talking write “lose weight” on a piece of paper. It’s too big, too daunting. I’m talking like you’re doing your goals at work. You know – here’s the strategic objective, and here’re the goals and tactics that will get me there. I do this even for my personal goals. This process really brings light to what you’re doing and what it will take to make it happen. It makes it manageable.

Then I merge my personal and professional goals together in the same document. I mean, you’re using the same 24 hours/day to make everything happen, why shouldn’t they be combined? What might come to light is that you’re over-committing to one part of your life over another.

Here’s a snippet of what it looks like for me. Feel free to laugh, but guess who’s growing her business and getting 12 new things made this year.

Here’s the thing. You don’t leave your driveway without a game plan.  I know you don’t because you wouldn’t know which way to turn if you didn’t have one. So why leave the big things you want to achieve to chance? Imagine how successful you might be with your 2019 goals and resolutions if you took the time to plan.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that everyone use this exact method for creating a personal plan; you need to use what works for you. What I am suggesting is that finding the time to plan is of utmost importance if you want to succeed.

If you’re too much in your day-to-day to find the time to plan for you or your company, call us. We are hired by business leaders who want to find the headspace to focus on strategic growth so they can stop working 60+ hours a week. www.ExtendCoach.com 410-337-4940