As 2011 limps in for its final breath this week, I look with hope to 2012.  Over the next few weeks I’ll plan my business, personal, fitness, and spiritual goals for the upcoming year.  When you actually take the time to write out goals, it unleashes a magic in the universe.  I know that last statement is overflowing with “self-help” jargon, and you may have sighed as you read it, but it’s true.

I try to list out my goals every year.  You see, that’s the key. Writing them down makes you think and work towards them. When you write them out, your mind works on your goals even when you are busy doing other things. At the end of the year, I may not have completed everything on my list, but if I look at goals from the last ten years, about 80% have been accomplished. Would I have completed them without writing them down and focusing on them?  I can say with complete honesty, the answer is no.

Another secret for growth and accomplishing goals is not what you add to your life, but what you take away.  Cutting key elements out of your world that bring you away from your goals is critical.  You only have so many hours in a day. Focus on the positive, rid yourself of the negative.

Here are four ideas to get you started for 2012:

(1)-Find something that’s really important to you.  Something that will change your life.

(2)-Decide that you’re going to get it. Picture yourself already achieving it.

(3)-Use a system to keep you on-task.  Writing it down and hold yourself accountable. Set up rewards. Talk about the goals with your family and close friends. A sacrifice today could be worth a fortune in the future.

(4)-Do something daily, (or at least weekly) to work towards your goal.

Do this and I guarantee you will be closer to your goals a year from now.

Here are a few of my professional goals for the year–Let’s see how much ground I make in a year:

(1)-Have a fully staffed sales team.  6 sellers who are all trained in copy writing, cold calling, promotions, and creating great campaigns for their clients.

(2)-Have the team continue to be the best in our industry and area.

(3)-Have the sales team call on a minimum of 5,000 new clients in 2012.

(4)-Grow sales by 8% for the year.

Now it’s written down–I will move mountains to make sure we have 8% growth this year.  How incredible it will be to write in this blog on 12/25/2012 and say where we finished off.  Don’t get me wrong, a lot can happen over that period of time. We could miss the mark and the economy could get worse. However, I’m quite confident that if things crash, the team with a plan will survive through it better than the one that doesn’t create a roadmap.

How can you go to Plan B when you don’t have a Plan A?

Good luck–Happy Holidays
Craig