“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.”

-Earl Nightingale, radio personality

Every year, people all over the world make New Year’s resolutions. They tell themselves that this is the year that they are going to lose that weight, get that promotion or run that marathon. And most of them barely get past January before the whole thing falls apart.

The problem is that they don’t spend enough doing what they need to do to be successful. Because to be successful, you have to have a plan. And to have a plan, you have to make goals.

At Flex Tech, goals are important to our success because they give us focus and help us move forward.

For example, when you set reasonable small or short-term goals, it makes it easier to accomplish your larger or long-term goals because the smaller achievements add up to the big one. Small goals also help you measure your progress as you move closer and closer to your larger goal.

An easy way to accomplish your goals is to set up a one-year plan.

Writing down your goals is always the first step to fulfilling them. Decide which of your goals are most important by deciding why they are so important. Knowing why they’re important will help you prioritize them.

Once you know your long-term goals, break them down into smaller, easier attainable goals that you can meet each quarter. Want to lose 50 pounds? Make your quarterly goal 12.5 pounds. Want to be more successful at work? Decide on the areas where you want to improve and focus on a different area each quarter.

At the end of each quarter, evaluate your results and write them down. Did you lose the 12.5 pounds? Did you do a better job of returning client calls within a shorter time frame? Document your achievements so you can measure your success. And if you didn’t meet your short-term goal, write down why and how you can correct it.

After each quarter, check your successes, write them down and see how far you’ve come. With each accomplishment, your long-term goals come closer and closer to reality. Meeting your short-term goals gives you the motivation to keep pushing toward the finish.

If you have a plan, set goals for yourself, write them down, and measure your success, you’re on your way to make the difficult easy and the improbable possible.