Believe it or not we have already completed the first quarter of the year. Have you found your resolutions to be challenging goals or obstacles? If they are obstacles, are you going to do an honest assessment and revision? Or just give up? If your resolutions are obstacles let’s look at why this might have happened. Answering a couple of questions may get you back on the right path.
Is your resolution realistic? If you are a business doing about $500,000 in annual profits and your resolution was to increase that profit, what was your targeted increase? If you set the bar at $5 million, what steps have you taken to insure your business is capable of providing the required services to see that large an increase? If all you did was set the expected profit at a new level and no other steps have been considered or implemented, chances are you are going to fall short. That sort of resolution is like trying the drain the ocean with a soup ladle. In essence, a lack of planning has helped insure that you will fail. How will you handle that failure? Will you accept responsibility for your role in the failure? Or will you shift that responsibility to others who had no say in the planning? For that matter, where was the planning?
Compare that resolution with one that sets the annual increase at between $750.000 and $1 million, coupled with input from your staff which has led to a new energized marketing plan for your services, making sure to reach out to an expanded customer base. Prior to setting your marketing goal you already implemented new marketing strategies and started expanding your customer base.
Looking at both scenarios which one do you honestly think has the better chance of succeeding? Resolutions are good, as long as the requisite planning and work to implement them is completed with full involvement from your staff. Good luck throughout the rest of 2016!