It’s that time of year when there are no more pages to turn on the calendar, and we wonder: where exactly did the year go? This time of reflection has lent itself perfectly to the creation of resolutions for making the coming year even better than the last.

There is no one size fits all for New Year’s resolutions. You may want to build on a strength or improve a weakness.  You may want to build, learn, grown in many tangible and intangible ways. First we must discern which goal is priority number one, and then create a timeline, actionable steps, and milestones to reach that resolution.

Discern  

How do you figure out what you most need to work on?

First, you can create a list of all your strengths and weaknesses. It can help to ask your friends, families, and coworkers for feedback. This may help inject some objectivity and outside perspective into your list making.

Next, you need to think in the long and short term about your career and/or personal goals. What does a one month milestone look like? Where do you want to be in one year? In determining your goal, make sure that it is specific and realistic.

Prioritize 

Specifics are key in resolutions, but so is focus. It is important not to choose to make so many changes that you end up unable to act on any of them because your efforts are so divided.

You may have any number of goals you’d like to advances, a myriad of strengths you want to capitalize, and some weaknesses you need to mitigate. Once you see how long your list is, you may get discouraged that you will never be able to accomplish everything because of time and energy constraints. You must make only one a priority, and commit to it fully. It’s much simpler to commit to one thing fully and make real progress, than to divide your attention between many tasks and advance only a little in each.

To decide which resolution to pursue with full strength, rank them according to what makes sense for you. You may consider some of the following criteria to help get clarity: What is your biggest pain point? Which resolution would do the most to eliminate that? Does improving in one area affect other goals positively as well? Which one have you thought about doing the longest, but never got around to?

If you think improving your emotional intelligence will help you advance every other goal on your list, it might make the most sense to make that resolution number one. You must make one resolution the number one priority, the one you will pursue with the most commitment and vigor.

Plan 

Next, after you have determined your number one resolution for the new year, it’s time to make a game plan.

Set yourself a timeline for this goal, and figure out how you are going to be able to set aside time to reach it. When trying to find time, you might need to get creative.  That might mean delegating something in your life if you can. It could be as simple as paying someone to take a household chore off your to-do list, so you can use that time to further your goal. Making that financial commitment can be added incentive to make sure you spend your time advancing your goal.  Spending money isn’t the only way to find time. You can also resolve to spend at least 15 minutes a day on your resolution, if you can’t carve out time otherwise. We can all find 15 minutes to spare if we’re truly looking.

You may find that sharing your goal helps you commit to it. The more you talk about it with others, the more you may feel an incentive to accomplish it. However, if that doesn’t work for you, try sharing your goal with only a few key people in your life. The best person to share it with is someone who’s been where you want to go. For example, if your resolution is to become a better public speaker, share that goal with someone you feel is a good public speaker. Take them out to coffee and ask to pick their brain. This way you not only have a visible model for your resolution, but  you can also get some guidance to flesh out your action plan.

Our New Year’s Resolutions have the potential to change our personal and professional lives. However, a resolution is not a wish. To have true success with your resolution you must discern, prioritize, plan, execute and revise your plan all year long. This isn’t something nice to think about in January. It’s something that you want to keep at the forefront of your mind all year. Then, when December rolls around again, you won’t be wondering where the year went, you will know. And you’ll be ready for the next challenge.