Paraphrasing a message I heard last month at a meeting with one of my favorite client organizations…

“Congratulations on an outstanding year; we over-delivered, our customer service scores were through the roof, and we had one of the most profitable years yet! Now, moving on to 2025.” (In one breath, by the way).

It seems comical that such incredible success receives the same amount of time as a fast-food drive-thru line, but this is common in most of our organizations. We comment on the success, yet we often feel we don’t have time to celebrate and pause, allowing our accomplishments to sink in. We’re off to the next month, next quarter, and next set of milestones and goals to achieve.

Organically, January, as the start of a new year, feels like a pressure cooker for many of us to set goals, resolutions, intentions, etc…both in our professional and personal lives. The trick, though, is to create goals that have meaning. If our goals don’t have meaning to us, they’ll often be abandoned as quickly as that gym routine – about the middle of February.

Today’s TPF is less about corporate metrics and measurables (which are usually dictated by outside inputs) and more about personal progress. My goal today is to share with you a system that I’ve been using since 2007 to create meaningful goals for myself and my family. Maybe it will work for you as well. 

In 2007, a well-meaning advisor gave me the following advice:

Life is about 5 things:

  • Health
  • Wealth
  • Family 
  • Fun
  • Development

If we are not focused on these five things (no matter how you define them) we’re not moving forward in a well-rounded way. 

At the start of each year, I make a list of 5 goals (one that hits each one of these categories), and I write them on a Post-it note. I put that note in a place I will see every day. They are personal goals, so usually, they are hung on a wall inside my closet. I look at them every day – I make progress on them throughout the year. Sometimes, I hit all 5; sometimes not, but because they are meaningful to me, I certainly try my best. 

Sometimes, they are heavy; sometimes, they are light. Sometimes, they involve bucket list trips; sometimes, they involve financial milestones I want to reach within the year. 

No matter the success rate, I’ve committed to looking at them every day and moving forward on the things that I said were meaningful.

This is the start of a new year; it’s up to you to make it meaningful at the end.