Hi Everyone,

Hope your 2016 is off to a great start. This time of year is often about planning and setting personal and professional goals. In addition to all of our business goals, I sat down with my family last week and we each set goals for the year, including our children. Rachel and I believe it’s very important for them to learn how to set a goal, be accountable for it and then feel great when they accomplish it or adjust when they don’t. Their goals ranged from “complete the high ropes course at camp”  to “stop sucking thumb”.

Several of you have ask me about goal setting and whether AP/you should be meeting 100% of goals. Conventional wisdom says that if you are meeting 100% of your goals, you probably aren’t aiming high enough. But you also don’t want to aim too high and feel as if you aren’t accomplishing anything. The way around this is often to define a range (i.e. I want to lose 10-20 pounds) or I want to save at least $1,000 a month so that coming short of the goal is still a win. The other way is to focus on the repeatable daily/weekly input that will get you where you want to go (i.e. the habit). This gives you something to measure and be accountable to each week. Instead of an annual goal for heath, you might commit to working out 3 mornings a week or to taking a 15 minute break every day or saving $100 each week. The key to making these stick is accountability. This can be down with a journal (self-accountability), an accountability partner you check in with or by putting your goals out there. The most successful and driven people I have met make them public for that reason. Here is a great example.

Here is a great list of “small win” work and personal habits that you can add to your routine for 2016.

Remember, the key to AP having its best year yet in 2016 is each of you having your personal best year yet. I’d love to hear about each of your goals.

Have a great weekend!