Don’t Make Resolutions in 2020; Make Real Promises Instead

If you say you’ll do something, then don’t follow through with it after a day or a week, what was the point of proclaiming it in the first place?

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Don’t Make Resolutions in 2020; Make Real Promises Instead

I’ve never really been the type to make new year’s resolutions—and not just because it’s something everyone does. In case you haven’t noticed, I can tend to be an iconoclast at times.

My anti-resolution stance, though, isn’t just about not wanting to follow the crowd in making these empty promises that most people know they’ll never keep even before they make them.

I also don’t like that most of these failed resolutions start on Jan. 1 of every new year.

I get the whole “new year, new me” mentality, but it’s just not something I think makes a lot of sense.

A few years ago, my doctor told me I was heading toward becoming diabetic if I didn’t stop eating so much unhealthy food and not doing any exercise beyond clicking the buttons on my remote control.

That visit came in September. Imagine if I had waited until Jan. 1 to start eating better and adding a swimming regimen to my life.

Those three-plus months of starting my lifestyle transformation probably didn’t save my life, but I’m guessing they kept me from having to stick myself with insulin needles.

Why Promises Are Better Than Resolutions

The same mentality is true for your business. If you see things going awry and wait until the new fiscal year or the start of a new calendar year to make changes in your path, who knows if your company will even be around to sing Auld Lang Syne as the ball drops on another year?

Instead of making empty resolutions—and probably crossing your fingers and rolling your eyes when you do it, make promises that you’re going to do something different with your life, with your business or in the world in the next 12 months.

Do you think your customers would rather have you resolve to give them better service in 2020 than you did this year or put it in writing and show them how you’ll do it? You can only be someone’s trusted partner if they believe you’ll do what you say and not just abandon the idea because it’s too hard.

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