As you set goals and prepare your plan to transition for the upcoming year, understand that effective goal’s aren’t attained simply by defining the end result: they are attained by your commitment to discover a new process. A process that eventually works because of the commitment that you made to act and to continuously learn in the discovery of that process. Your commitment is the only thing solely in your control to reach that outcome.

We also know in general from the Pareto Principle that for many outcomes, 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes (the vital or imperative few). Those vital or imperative few behaviors are the way to refine your process and not waste time on those that don’t matter at all in attaining your outcome.

The only way to demonstrate a commitment is to start. From there you will learn and apply what you are learning to make the vital few changes you will need to make to reach your desired state.

Most things that seem urgent rarely are. You are looking for productive solutions that promote the change you which to make, not to simply seem busy with unimportant tasks (80%) that won’t produce a process that will help you attain your goals. You will find progress and success in the vital few behaviors (20%) that are necessary then to build the process that works.

“What’s important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower —

Your level of happiness, your personal /professional satisfaction, your accomplishments and the positive impacts that you generate with others in the upcoming year is within you. Only you can make and control the commitment to improve and excel through continuous learning.

Happy New Year. I am still learning and I will work to challenge the same with each of you each week day in the upcoming year via these learning references.

MITM