It’s that time of year.
The calendar is about to flip, and the annual ritual of setting “New Year’s Resolutions” is upon us. People everywhere are getting ready to declare their goals for the next 12 months.
But does it matter?
James Clear was right: Winners and losers have the same goals.
Top producers and bottom-of-the-barrel producers both want to increase sales. Top-performing athletes and those who never make the team both want to win the championship.
Everyone has goals.
Having a goal doesn’t put you in the winner’s circle. It just puts you at the starting line.
The Problem Isn’t the Goal, It’s the Foundation
I see this constantly. Why are people so reluctant to do the things that are necessary to have a chance to succeed?
I think it’s because they fear wasting money and time on yet another thing that will not work.
You’ve probably experienced this. You try a new marketing tactic, a new “life-hack,” maybe a new platform that promises to be the one thing that will change your life overnight. You spend hundreds, maybe thousands, and get a little activity… maybe… but no real results.
Here’s the problem, and I have seen this over and over again: the basics and fundamentals are skipped and ignored.
People jump right to advanced strategies, which are completely worthless if they aren’t launched on a solid foundation of getting the basics right. Many sales and marketing problems are not complicated. What is complicated is knowing which fundamental option to choose and when.
Goals Don’t Create Success. Systems Do.
You can dream of great outcomes all day long, but those outcomes are the result of thought, planning, systems, adjustments, and obstacles overcome.
Your goals do not create success. Your systems do.
This is the part too many skip or give short shrift to.
The ones who achieve their goals are the ones who build on strong foundations. They build systems. They test small. They make the adjustments. They gather the data. Then they go big and scale.
New Year’s resolutions sound great. But it is systems that create results. Systems that are created, broken, and adjusted many times before the outcomes are clear.
The Difference is in “The Middle”
Goals are nothing without the habits and prerequisites necessary to achieve them.
Are you willing to do the work?
• Do you have the right strategy?
• Are your efforts properly prepared and tested?
• Have you made the proper adjustments along the way?
Most importantly, are you willing to push through “the middle”?
“The middle” is that part of the process where things are not quite working the way you hoped. This is where most people quit. When things get a little difficult, they drop the goal and look for a new, shiny one.
The winners? They push through those moments to the other side. They trust the system, adjust the tactics, and proceed to win.
Stop Waiting for the Calendar
If you are waiting for the New Year to crank it up, you are already behind.
Top producers and winners are not waiting for a calendar change.
They don’t need an arbitrary date to get going. Their momentum was built last month. And the month before.
Goals are not accomplished on the date you project. They are accomplished in the months prior—when you are planning, implementing, building, testing, and adjusting. That is when your goals are really achieved.
Long before the outcome is clear, the routines, the infrastructure, and the discipline to keep going must be present. When those things exist before the outcomes are required, success is pretty much maximized, if not guaranteed.
So, forget the resolution.
Goals do not equal success. Systems, strategy, routines, discipline, and perseverance do.
