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I don’t need January 1st to come around in order to re-evaluate my goals and recommit to them – I can do it any day, and I often do, but it’s a good excuse.

I’ve heard before that “how you start is how you finish!”, but too often people get nervous to “shake things up” in their life, so they avoid making any real changes. Personally, I get butterflies in my stomach because I feel the responsibility and the opportunity to start anew, to recommit, and re-engage fully in 2013.

Many people do come up with New Year resolutions that only last a few days because they don’t follow the process of lasting change. Here are simple steps to follow to ensure you launch into a powerful and sustainable high performance throughout the year.

1. Get very clear and specific about what you’re going after and why.
   Declare one main mission to pursue, and write down why you want to accomplish it.  What will it allow for your life? How will it impact the quality of your life?  Imagine it’s a year from now, Dec. 31^st 2013, how do you feel about accomplishing this goal? My 2013 personal mission is very clear: One million in sales while having a fun and fulfilling lifestyle. Creating strong reasons and a clear vision of your compelling future will pull you forward even when challenges come your way – and we both know they will.
2. Adjust your strategy.
   Don’t just repeat your 2012 strategy, but look for ways to improve it so that your performance level doesn’t repeat itself, but improves. What is your workflow process? What little changes can you make to become more efficient and save time? What resources do you have that you are not utilizing properly? For example, I intend to invest a lot more time with LinkedIn and Twitter to engage in conversations with customers.
3. What’s not measured can’t improve: Set up a measuring stick and fully commit for 30 days.
   We cannot control the outcome, but we can control our activities that influence the outcome. So once you know your outcome, and have a prepared strategy, fully commit to the activity! It takes 30 days to establish a habit, and once you own it, it’s partially automated in your mind. So measure activity for only 30 days and you’re much more likely to maintain a high level of performance for the rest of the year. I measure my activity with SalesForce, but any method works – a pen and paper if nothing else.
4. Get excited about what you’re doing this year.
   Nothing of value is ever accomplished without enthusiasm. When you get excited about the possibilities ahead, you’ll feel propelled into action, and action is what separates successful people from everyone else. Consciously get excited about the year ahead, and you’ll have an exciting year!
5. Take massive action!
   Plan your work, then work your plan! If you take massive action, you’ll see immediate results, which in turn increases your belief and confidence in your ability to sustain high performance and reach your goal, which will inspire to take even more action – and the cycle repeats again. They say that “Slow and steady wins the race”, but this does not apply for your first 30 day massive action launch for 2013!

What are you planning to do to ensure a successful 2013 launch?