What’s important about this list is that you can check your own goals against those most popular with others.  But, perhaps more importantly, it will also give you an insight into the goals of your employees and customers, which will help with your strategic planning and marketing techniques…

Ten Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Stop smoking
2. Get fit / lose weight
3. Enjoy life more
4. Cut down on alcohol
5. Get organised
6. Get a new job
7. Learn something new
8. Get out of debt / save money
9. Spend more time with the family
10. Do something to help others

These top ten things help you understand your customers and what their main drivers are – if you can tap into these trends and help them achieve some of their most important goals, that could be a remedy for success in 2010.  And could help ensure you achieve your New Year’s Resolutions.

In memory of the legendary Jim Rohn, who recently passed away, the following bullet points are designed to be used as a brainstorm for you to think about things you’d like to achieve in the New Year.  Give yourself 10 minutes and don’t think too hard – just write down the first things that come into your mind.  And keep writing – you can have as many items as you like in any category – the topics are just there to guide you…

• I Want to Go
• I Want to See
• I Want to Do
• I Want to Be
• And, an extra one I added… I Want to Give

You might find you’ve written some things that surprise you, which is great – just keep writing.

Check back tomorrow for some tips on how to do this if you have a partner – in business, or in life.

Have Fun!

Have a look at your 5-year goal list and work back from there to decide what actions you need to complete in the next year in order to take a big step towards those goals.  The following tables may help you:

1-Year Goals – Business

1-Year Goals – Personal

These goals can now be linked into your 90-day goals – 4 of these 90-day planning sheets and you’ll be at the end of your year.  The three goals exercises together will keep you focused on your priorities and will give you something against which you can measure your progress.

Good Luck!

The majority of business owners we meet have never asked themselves what it is they really want, or why they’re in business in the first place.  But, once you have a purpose and a focus, you can have anything you want.

A great exercise  to help with your long-term planning is to brainstorm ideas – and just write down the first things that come to mind.  Jim Rohn has a framework to help you, which is just there to get you started (I’ve added one of my own, which I’m hopeful Jim would agree with, as it matches his own business philosophy.)  Just keep writing – you don’t only have to have one idea in each box – the more you have the better.  Perhaps just set yourself a time limit of 10 minutes and see what you come up with…

Once you’ve created a list of goals, you then need to make a plan to achieve them.  But first, we’ll take a look at how badly you want the things you’ve written down tomorrow – it’s a great way to prioritise them.

If you don’t know where you want to be, how will you know when you get there?

To start the process, we’re just going to recommend focusing on the next 90-days.  Try to complete the following tables, as they should help…

90-Day Goals – Business

90-Day Goals – Personal

We just suggest six goals, as too many is likely to be unachievable in the time.  You also risk losing focus if you have too many things happening, so just stick to six in each area and see how you get on.

If you can, find someone to hold you accountable – a business coach, or trusted partner.  They could call you each week or each fortnight to ask how you’re doing.  You’ll be amazed at the results if you know someone’s going to keep a check on you.

Tomorrow, we’ll give you some tips for setting 5 year goals – when it starts to get a bit more serious.