If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, or if you know me personally, then you know I am a big goal setter. I talk about goals, I write them down, I make plans to make them happen, and then, miraculously – they do!

Remarkably, I’ve been able to achieve most of the goals I’ve written out for myself. Well, at least the ones that I’ve put the work into, the ones that I really believed in, the ones that made me sparkle.

And whether their achievement was a result of the fact that I wrote them down, or had the foresight to set them in the first place or not, is up for discussion. But research proves that writing your goals down – not just stating them – does indeed make them more likely to happen. In fact, 42% more likely.

Perhaps even more compelling? In a study of a Harvard 1979 MBA class, upon graduating, only 3% of students had written out their goals. 13% had goals but didn’t write them out, and 84% of students had no goals at all. Ten years later, the same graduating students were interviewed again. This is what they found:

“The 13% of the class who had goals, but did not write them down were earning twice the amount of the 84% who had no goals. The 3% who had written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% of the class combined!” (see this Forbes magazine article for more details)

But I’m sure we can find research that shows that smoking is good for you, and that eating more cookies will make you smarter. So it’s a crap shoot.

And yet, on the off chance that the research is correct (and, to be clear, I’m arguing that it is, if on no other grounds than my own life experience), wouldn’t it be a good idea to set and write your goals down, just in case?

As the year comes to an end, I find myself recalling the memories of the previous 360 some odd days, and also, thinking about what I’d like the next 365 days to look like. As I seem to do every year, I scour my notes, look over my goals, take some time in solitude and in gratitude, and get real with myself about how I want the next year to look.

As I was collecting my notes this year, I came across a great e-book called Best Year Ever: The 8 Strategies Super Successful High Achievers Use to Prepare for the New Year by Michael Hyatt.

(Of course I did).

Among all the amazing content in the book, there was a question that one particular high achiever asks himself at the end of each year that really struck a chord with me. So much so that I think this is the only question you need to ask yourself this New Year’s Eve:

What do I most want to be thankful for one year from now?

The question comes from Ray Edwards, a communications strategist and copyright who runs a business helping entrepreneurs build their internet based businesses. He says that the answer to this question becomes his focus for the new year.

So as you celebrate with your loved ones this Christmas Eve, and begin to prepare for the New Year, ask yourself:

What do you want to be thankful for one year from now?

Write down your answer(s), devise a plan, and resolve to make it happen.

Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year, my sweet friends. May you achieve all that your mind can conceive in 2015, and always.

Love, love, love,
Lauren
xxx