While those two slices of pizza were not going to have a significant effect on his ability to lose 30 pounds, for this individual it spelled failure. It sent him on a downward spiral and back on the unhealthy path to eating junk food.

When setting goals, it’s important to be realistic in what you can accomplish, and be kind to yourself. Instead of focusing on the finish line, celebrate each yard along the way. Remember the fable about the hare and the tortoise? The tortoise won with sheer persistence and by taking one step at a time.

What’s Your Motivation?
While resolutions are easy to set, without carefully examining our reason for setting them, they’re really meaningless. That’s why it’s important to determine your “why”—the driving factor for setting and achieving them. To discover yours, probe deep inside yourself. “What is the reason you want to set this resolution? What is the affect your resolution will have on you? On others?”

At one time or another, most of us have set a New Year’s resolution that was health-related—lose weight and/or eat healthier. If you’ve done this, was it out of concern that your current weight might cause you to have a heart attack or lead to some other health crisis? Were you concerned with how poor health could affect your family or business? Perhaps how your absence from work would create a hardship for the people who work with you? What the financial ramifications would be? 

As a financial advisor, your goal may be business-related, e.g. increase client acquisitions, focus on team development or create a succession plan. Whatever your reasons for setting it, those are the driving factors for achieving it. They are the “why” to the resolution that will give you the focus and energy to make it happen.

Goals Versus Behavior
Often as we set goals, we only think of the “behavior” we want to change—spend more time building a successful advisory practice or schedule more time with your family. While these are worthwhile behaviors, they are not goal-specific.

There are plenty of ways you can build a successful advisory practice—become better organized, sign up for advanced training or to spend more time on productive activities.

However, goal setting requires more specificity. For instance:
• What is the goal and why are you setting it? (To increase revenues)
• Is it measurable? (Increase client acquisitions by 10% in 2022.)
• Is it attainable? How? (Ask clients, friends, family members and social acquaintances for referrals. Turn prospects into clients.)
• How important is it? (Have a positive effect on overall performance.)
• How much time are you willing to commit to reach this goal? (Hours per day/week/month)

If you ask yourself these questions each time you set a goal, you’ll find your motivation to achieve it is amplified.

A Four-Step Process
It takes approximately 21 days to form a new habit, and 66 days for the new behavior to become automatic. Of course habits can be good or bad. As American scientist George Washington Carver once said, “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”