I know we’re all looking forward to turning the page on 2020. It’s been a year.

But things don’t automatically improve just because we change the calendar, right?

If you want 2021 to be different from 2020, you need to take different actions and make different decisions. It’s not automatic; you have to make it happen.

Planning in times of uncertainty

One of the challenges that I’m seeing with making plans for 2021 is that there is so much uncertainty; it’s not clear what actions will lead to good results!

So instead of trying to find the one way to thread the needle and succeed, what if you looked for the many ways to fail?

Instead of asking the question, “What should we do to be more successful next year?” Start by asking, “If I wanted to make sure we didn’t make money next year, what would we do?”

Try brainstorming that for a minute right now, or take the question to your next team meeting. You’d be surprised how fun it is to list ways that you could undermine your success!

How am I doing that?

Once you have your list of ways to make sure you’ll fail, take them one at a time and ask, “Is there anything we are doing that resembles this, in any way, shape, or form, that we are doing, or planning to do?”

Be ruthless.

What are you doing that is undermining your success?

Once you’ve reviewed each item on your list, ask one more question; “How am I going to stop that from happening, either alone or with help?”

Give this a try; you’ll be surprised how helpful it is!