Research shows that nearly half of all Americans make resolutions in the new year. Research also shows that about 80 percent of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions by March. Why is that? We all have good intentions, and most resolutions are to improve ourselves or improve our business.
Here are some ideas to help you stick to your business goals this year.
Goals need to be important and specific
What are you trying to accomplish by setting a particular goal? How would achieving your goals improve your business? If you can’t answer these questions easily, you may need to rethink or consider clarifying your goals before setting them.
Have a clear vision of where you are going and how you are going to get there. You are more likely to achieve goals that are written down with a specific end in mind.
- Identify the reason that the change matters. What is the value of making the change?
- Trying to change more than a couple of items at a time can be overwhelming. Identify items you or your farm team are motivated to change.
- Success at a few goals will increase confidence and motivation to make further changes.
- If it is a farm goal, get everyone on board.
- Make a detailed action plan. Just hoping and wanting improvement will not make it happen. Developing a well-thought-out plan with specific actions and key metrics to monitor progress will greatly increase the chances of success.
Take the time to develop new habits
You need to take the necessary time for new behaviors to develop into habits. Charles Duhigg, author of “The Power of Habit,” explains there are three common elements in habit formation. The first element is a cue. The cue triggers the second element, an automatic response or behavior that results in the third element, a reward. A simple example is, when paying for fuel you see and smell donuts, chips and candy bars (a cue), your automatic response is to purchase a candy bar (a behavior). Your reward is the brief feeling of satisfaction that the candy bar generates.
Habits are very hard to change because the cure solicits an almost automatic response. It also explains why new habits are difficult to develop. All habits, even bad habits, provide some reward.
When your business goals require you and your farm team to do something different, developing new habits requires a new behavior followed by a new reward. The goal is to replace the old behavior (purchase candy) with a new behavior (purchase apple) and the reward is that you feel better for making progress.
- It’s important to reward yourself or your farm team for small steps toward reaching a goal. This will keep the momentum going. We all like to celebrate successes and feel we are part of a winning team.
- Don’t get discouraged by setbacks. Progress is often not as fast as we expect. Most research indicates that it takes about 60 to 90 days for a new habit to become automatic.
- The difference between people who are successful and unsuccessful is often resilience. We all have setbacks in our personal lives and businesses, but people who have a good plan and continue to move forward despite setbacks are more successful. Just don’t give up.
Keeping a positive attitude in difficult times
It can be challenging to set personal or business goals and look forward to the future after a year like 2023. Many farmers are struggling to stay current on bills and will lose net worth in 2023.
I’m not trying to minimize the economic pain that many people are facing. But changing focus to the positive non-economic advantages of farming and being grateful for the good in our lives can make living through tough times a little easier.
There are many advantages of living and working in rural areas. We have neighbors that we know and help each other out. We have views out our windows that people living in large cities only see on vacations.
Try and remain positive and think about the advantages in life. There are many things we cannot control, but the one thing that we can control is our attitude. Try and set some personal goals that help you appreciate your friends and family. Just remember: how we earn our living doesn’t count for nearly as much as how we do our living.