2015 has arrived and I wish everyone a wonderful new year. Time really flies. I hope this year we can all catch a breath and enjoy the scenery as we whiz along.

Resolutions are the “in-thing” at this time of the year. Here’s to grit and hope! However, statistics are not on our side. Not many personal resolutions will endure beyond the first week.  How can we be confident of achieving the goals we set?

Today I want to talk about the goals we set and the systems we use to achieve them.

There is a very significant reason for failing to keep resolutions. Our brain is wired to prioritize. It takes energy (think glucose) to operate the brain. And when the brain is juggling many balls, it prioritizes some tasks over others. For example, when the first week of January kicks in with the pressures at work, the resolution to hit the gym every morning takes a back seat. So resolutions that don’t figure properly in the big scheme of things, are going to be broken first. That’s why we can’t quit smoking. And that’s why we fall for that yummy, delicious cake. Smokers and dieters, think about that. Sounds familiar?

One of my clients called systems based thinking as “machine thinking”? It meant that unless the “method” to achieve the goal is defined, the goals themselves are invalid. In addition what was amazing to me was that even though we may achieve our goals, if the goals are not met using the defined “machine”, not only is credit withheld, but people are held accountable for this failure. Machines preclude serendipity. Even if the goals are successfully met!

It follows that the essence of machine thinking is in setting the right goals and in creating a plan to execute towards them.  A system describes the “importance” of our goals, and “how” we will meet your goals, much like how a project plan is developed. In fact, systems are a requirement for success, whether it is marketing, IT strategy, IT delivery, product management, sales or just about any type of goal…even losing weight or becoming a better person (these account for 75% of the personal goals).

How it applies to resolutions is simple – our brain needs a machine in order to prioritize. First to avoid failure, and then to get back on track after a failure.

How do we define a good system? A good system is created when we think “right to left”. Here’s my take on successful “right to left” thinking for our 2015 aspirations.

First, avoid constraints led goal setting. Instead follow possibilities led goal setting.

Goals are not metrics of activities. Don’t put constraints on end goals and aspirations. Put the benefits first. Examples of such hasty goal setting includes: I will lose 20 pounds in 3 months, I will grow as fast as the competition, I will write 3 blog posts every month, or I will help generate 3 sales leads per month. That kind of thinking develops a system that may fail. Since these are activities, they might not be relevant as you try to execute them (ok, except the weight loss). Such goals make us feel good and motivate us, but they focus on activities, not the benefits or end results. Instead: I’ll play soccer with my son’s team for an hour every Saturday, I’ll focus on consultative selling, I’ll make sure my blog reaches more marketing folks by end of Q1, I’ll plug the content gaps in the business development process may be more appropriate goals. They will lead to the right activities and metrics. For professional goals, this kind of goal setting can also be collaborative because of inter-dependencies. Constraints-led or activity led goal setting is unable to provide the motivation by itself to get back on track if we miss an activity or task. In other words, the activities become our goals.

Second, think both easy and difficult.

Its difficult to plan everything out. Not many of us have the time, or the information we need to properly qualify our goals. So instead of taking the high road, we need to just define an easy and a hard way to proceed. That implies that we can do certain things with little effort – with only incremental results – and then we also outline certain more difficult activities that yield bigger results.

• So as we define that soccer target, we decide we need to lose about 20 lbs, and we support it by a system of taking the morning stairs to work instead of taking the elevator, or reducing the sugar in our coffee. Those are the easy, measurable activities. The more difficult activity would be to jog or hit the gym three times a week (for normal people like me).
• As we set a business development target, the set of easy activities could just be a little more collaboration with the marketing or account teams, and keeping in touch with clients through industry news & updates. And the more difficult ones could be to define thought leadership based interaction.
• As we define the goal to be “more organized”, we can start by creating a system to put a certain category of to-do tasks in the outlook calendar to block the required time. And a stretch goal of doing it for all tasks, blocking time out as “do not disturb”, and making it publicly known.

Easy and hard activities become just that, and we have the flexibility to mix and match them depending on our situations. A system like this enables us to keep an eye on the overall goal of losing weight, or becoming more organized.

Be strong and clearly attribute success to the right reasons.

This is true for all goals, especially professional ones. For companies, this is often the number 1 cause of “fluke, non-repeatable success” and “organizational culture spoilers”. Hold yourself and your team accountable to this syndrome of claiming success which came through just “thrashing about without a machine”. And expect your leaders to do the same. Given the shortening job stints, its easy to give in. Don’t leave gaps in your machines. Saying that we’ll exercise more to reach our fitness goals, or that the experts on the team will figure out how to meet the overall sales goals is a big gap in the machine – and in professional settings shows lack of leadership and vision. Just as your safety on the road is your own responsibility, the method to achieve your goals is your calling.

Good luck for 2015. Follow your dreams and make them come true by ringing in the systems!

And do share how you plan to keep up your resolutions. Do you have any tips?

 

Photo credit: One Way Stock / IWoman / CC BY-ND