I’m not a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions—probably because they tend to survive about two weeks after they’re made, if that. That’s not to say that the fundamental idea of promising yourself to
do better in some aspect of your life is not a good thing—it is—but rather than set yourself up for failure, maybe New Year’s Eve is a good time to reflect on 2010, but, more importantly, to visualize 2011. Let me explain.
do better in some aspect of your life is not a good thing—it is—but rather than set yourself up for failure, maybe New Year’s Eve is a good time to reflect on 2010, but, more importantly, to visualize 2011. Let me explain.When entrepreneurs first envision a new venture and lay it out in their minds (or on paper), one of the ways they quickly assess whether the idea has merit is to do a pre-mortem. Rather than waiting until the idea blows up and doing a post-mortem assessment of what went wrong, they look ahead, say, five years to the business failing and they ask, “Why did we fail?” In that way, they are able to identify the critical success factors required for the new venture to succeed.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you do a pre-mortem on 2011. What I AM suggesting is that you use your creative mind to transport yourself to December 31, 2011, the day you’ll reflect on the year you just completed. When you’re mentally there, recall the five great things that happened to you during 2011. No, I’m not crazy – I know they haven’t happened yet—but since you’re the entrepreneur, the designer of your future, you get to decide what happened. Here’s what you do.
- Write on a piece of paper the five “great things” that happened in 2011.
- Take each “great thing” and walk yourself backwards to today, revealing the path and the steps you followed to achieve that “great thing.” Take your time doing this part because it’s important to realize that a “great thing” is the sum of many small steps.
- Now you should have in your hands 5 paths to “great things” and the first step of many for each of them. You will take the first step for each path on Jan 1, 2011. Realistically, these aren’t going to be smooth paths to those “great things” that happen in 2011—just like any entrepreneur, you’ll hit bumps and turns along the way, and you’ll meet up with challenges that are not in your control. But, the important thing is, you will have defined your future for the coming year—you will be in charge.
Entrepreneurs believe that they control their destiny; they’re responsible for making sure that good things happen to them. Following these simple steps will insure that 2011 looks the way you want it to look, and that you definitely have a Happy New Year!
Fantastic idea! We'll plug this into our meeting Monday morning! Happy New Year Kathy, thanks for all your support and help over the years.