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By Angelo Kinicki | Weatherup/Overby Chair in Leadership
I strongly dislike New Year’s resolutions. A New Year’s resolution is nothing more than a broad goal, and experience and research show that broad goals do not foster success. However, I do love goal-based action plans, and that’s what I recommend you use for 2015. I have personally used goal-based action plans for years to help me accomplish some really challenging things.
For example, I ran a marathon many years ago. I had never run one before and stupidly accepted a challenge from Bob, another Arizona State University professor, in a public setting. He had run 17 marathons, was 10 years older and had 60 pounds on me. I figured, if he can do it, why can’t I? After putting my manly ego on the line by publicly stating that I would run the Runner’s Den Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon faster than Bob’s best time, I had to create a plan.
Failure was not an option. The plan entailed doing things like setting running intervals, gradually increasing the length of my runs until I could go 15 miles and trying to continually increase my miles per hour. Fortunately, Bob turned out to be a fine running coach! I finished the marathon in 3:41, which did not beat his best time.
I realize now that it was his coaching me to set daily, weekly and monthly goals, along with proper diet, time management, mental training and a couple of pairs of good running shoes that made it all possible. It wasn’t just saying I’d do it; it was executing the plan. That’s why I am not a fan of the New Year’s resolution. We all say them. Most of us even want to believe we’ll stick to them.
I’m talking about self-promises of smoking cessation, weight loss, exercise, working fewer hours, going back to school — all kinds of resolutions. How many have you made over the years only to state the same ones the following December? Action plans are the real key to accomplishing goals or resolutions — whether at work or at home. They keep us focused on what we must do to achieve our goals. They also provide a measuring stick for monitoring progress. Here are the steps for creating and executing an action plan:
I look forward to not having any New Year’s resolutions, but I will definitely set one goal-based action plan. I hope you do, too. Good luck. As noted by British sculptor Henry Moore, “I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the years’.”
First published in The Arizona Republic January 7, 2015.