By Larry Galler

Here we are in the midst of the holiday rush.  Shopping, wrapping, open houses, giving, cooking, eating, entertaining, caroling – you know – it’s that “over the river and through the snow” time of year… and yet, with the year-end looming it is also a time for taking stock of your current reality, creating new goals, resolutions, and changing paradigms.
 
All too often we concoct our resolutions or goals while rushing from one event to another while waiting for a stoplight or lying in bed awaiting sleep while thoughts of sugarplums dance in the head; not a good time or state of mind for business or personal planning.  Instead of making life-changing decisions in the blink of an eye, stop and consider a few things.  First look back at your goals for this year.  What did you accomplish?  How were you able to accomplish them?  How did it feel when you triumphed?  Give yourself a big pat on the back.  That’s enough self-congratulations.  It’s time to move on.

Now look at the goals you didn’t accomplish.  What were the reasons?   What would you do differently knowing what you now know?  Did you even start down the path towards accomplishment and monitor progress or did you just forget about them?  How did it feel when you realized you were not going to accomplish them?  Were your goals too ambitious or did outside factors take precedence? Are those goals worth pursuing in the coming year?

After looking back and considering past actions (or inactions) you have a basis for understanding the results and the personal emotional impact of the outcomes. Now create new, intentional goals and resolutions.  Avoid the pitfalls of inaction or a conspiracy of external forces by scheduling weekly and monthly “check-in” sessions to self-monitor progress.  Congratulate yourself with every triumph and when, inevitably, a project goes off course your scheduled monitoring will throw up a red flag alerting you to bear down on it rather than let it just fade off into a distant haze.

Stop for a moment this busy season.  Look back and assess, then look forward and plan your successes.

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Larry Galler has been an owner of three small businesses selling to local, regional, and national markets.  Since 1993 he has been coaching and consulting high performance executives, professionals, salespeople, and owners of small businesses to extraordinary achievement.  He speaks frequently to business groups and has written a weekly newspaper column since 2001.  To increase the velocity of your business success, contact Larry for a free coaching session larry@larrygaller.  Sign up for his newsletter at www.larrygaller.com