A Better Way to Keep Your Waning Resolutions & The Positive Effects It Has on Your Content Strategy
Most new years goals flop by about mid-February.
It just is what it is.
But what if you have a solid plan?
I know, I know. You have a “plan” every year and it still never quite works out or, if it does, you’ve just squeaked into a sort of pseudo-success.
No one really wants that.
Unpopular opinion: What if you just nixed the yearly resolutions altogether?
No, I’m not saying to forego all goals and kybosh any sort of long term strategy. I’m just saying that maybe the reason so many people aren’t able to truly follow through with their new year’s resolutions is that the entire structure and mindset around these aspirations are flawed and need a serious reboot.
time last year, I addressed S.M.A.R.T. goals and how to fine-tune your commitment to your yearly aspirations. These goals are ideal because they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Making goals with this framework allows you to track and assess your progress with more efficiency.
Speaking of assessing your goals, when you make a new year’s resolution, how often do you reevaluate your trajectory and make the necessary adjustments to achieve real success? Do you have deadlines within the year or is it crunch time come year-end?
What if that crunch time urgency and accountability happened every twelve weeks?
This is the premise behind Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington’s 12 Week Year ideology. Rather than making your resolutions for the entire year, make your ‘year’ last 12 weeks. At which point you can celebrate your achievements like it’s the new year, figure out what worked and what didn’t, then reassess your objectives for the next 12 Week Year.
Knowing that you have a deadline in such a short span of time creates urgency and importance to every week - and day - much like the mad dash that most people feel heading into fall. A year is a long time to complete your objectives and you might be tempted to procrastinate and otherwise lollygag in completing what you’ve set out to do. Having a tighter schedule to fulfill your resolutions encourages efficiency and often speeds up progress so that you can not only meet your big goals but surpass them.
Having S.M.A.R.T. goals with assessments every 12 Week Year is a practice that is effectively applied to your content strategy as well. The people who are consuming your content are at one of the top tiers of your sales funnel so the strategy you put behind that element of your business should not be taken lightly. Have tangible objectives and record your successes and learning opportunities so that you may improve in the next 12 Week Year.
This duration of time - for personal, professional, and digital marketing purposes - is ideal because it is not too long as to lull us into a sense of complacency but just long enough to gather meaningful data, reevaluate, and re-plan moving into the next chapter. It allows for some trial and error, some experimentation to discover what really resonates with your ideal audience and how you can improve upon your strategies so as to provide the most value to your people.
If you have already made your resolutions this year - awesome! Whether you’ve kept them so far or not, be proud of yourself for having decided on a better future. Hope is a beautiful quality in a person and you now have some of the tools necessary to take your hope and make it into reality.
Take a different approach to your resolutions this year and if you feel yourself waning on the ones you’ve already made, pivot into a new perspective and remember that you can start fresh any time you want. January first is a pretty arbitrary day to be touting the whole “new year, new me” mantra. Every day is a fresh start. Each day is a new beginning. Every morning we wake up is the first day of our new life.
Let’s make the most of it.
Business coaching is incorporated in all of my work because it plays such a vital role in the effectiveness of your content and copy. Refining your message and creating an irresistible offer are just a few of the building blocks necessary in establishing the strong foundation you need for a solid content strategy.
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