Like every year in the past, I have a long list of things I’d like to accomplish during the coming year. How can I help insure that this time next year I won’t be disappointed when I review my resolution list next year? Rhonda Abrams, small business strategist, has some suggestions.

Set the goals. “You can’t reach a goal you haven’t set,” so of course the first thing to do is to figure out what we want to accomplish during 2022.

Make the goals specific. Clearly “I want to have fun with my spouse” or “I want my family to be happy” is not as specific as “Tom and I will have dinner together at least three times a week” or “My family and I will take a vacation to a place we all enjoy.”

Make it positive. Here’s the truth, it’s easier to add something good to life than to remove something bad. So “I will go to to the gym three times a week” is more positive than “I won’t sleep late.” Even when something bad does need to be removed, it can still be stated in positive terms. “Quit yelling at my teen” can be replaced with “I will wait 30 minutes then speak to my teen in a calm voice.”

Set a time frame. My day timer is filled with things I will accomplish during my day, and I need to set the same sort of target for my big goals. “I will have the capacity to reply to emails within 2 days of receiving them.”

Make it achievable. We want to actually do these things don’t we? Just by asking the question, “Can this really be done?” helps us to consider what must be completed to get to the end result. Let’s not set ourselves up for failure. It’s nice to have a challenge, but life is hard enough without us adding impossible goals. I am not going to grow to be seven feet tall and play NBA basketball, and as much as I’d like to weigh 130 pounds, that isn’t going to happen either. I can, however, eat four servings of good tasting fiber a day. That is achievable.

Remind yourself. I want to be able to have the money to do a Disney vacation with my kids for a week in Tokyo so I am changing my phone screen to Disney Tokyo, actively saving every 500 yen coin I’ve come across and cooking more. A friend of mine, and her husband, are making a collage of their dream home, and of course it’s always a good idea to post pictures on the bathroom mirror and the refrigerator.

So here is your assignment. Pick one to three goals for the year, follow the suggestions above, write them down and put the list where you can see it daily. I’ll be checking back about this time next year to see how you have done. You can check on me as well, and maybe I will share with you about my 2-day response rates to my email … while I’m at Disney Tokyo. Between now and then keep this quote by Benjamin Mays in mind;

“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”

Happy New Year 2022!