Nobody plans to fail; people fail to plan. Having a strategy makes all the difference. Here are some things that people neglect to do when setting their New Year’s Goals/Resolutions–and some suggestions for improvements:
- Envisioning what the end goal looks like.
People always seem to draw a blank when I ask them what they want their life to look like. Better Tactic: Try to envision all the details 
of your goal. For instance, if you’re trying to save money, what is the exact amount that you want to have in your bank account at the end of the year? Try this: type up that dollar amount; print it out; cut and paste it onto a photocopy of one of your bank statements.
2. Creating action steps to achieve the goal.
You wrote your goal down but now what? Better Tactic: You need to write down every little and not so little task you need to do in order to achieve your goal. For instance, if you’re trying to exercise more, you might create a list like this: buy gym clothes and running shoes; get a gym membership; put gym bag near door; bring spare running shoes to work; purchase bike; etc.
3. Scheduling the action steps into one’s calendar or day planner.
Now you’re just looking at all those action steps and not sure where to begin. So you haven’t really started anything. Better Tactic: Take out your day planner or your e-calendar and schedule in all the action steps.
4. Having an accountability plan.
Most people slip when they don’t feel that they are accountable to someone or something. Better Tactic: Having a buddy or an app on 
your smart phone to check in with your progress only makes sense when you’re trying to achieve your goal. Hey, maybe she’ll join you in your goal.
5. Forgetting to reward progress as one moves closer to their goal.
All that hard work, how do you keep going? Better Tactic: Give yourself some sort of appropriate reward as you progress. Could be as simple as a “progress post” on your Facebook page and reading all the positive feedback afterwards and glowing.
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