I have been having great fun in the past couple of weeks working with our Fetola team to identify, refine and simplify our goals for the year. Each year we set no more than three key goals and then choose one as a company-wide priority goal that cross-cuts all departments.

Whilst brainstorming often delivers a long list of inspiring desires and intentions the power is in choosing only three. Cutting the number down forces you to identify the most powerful drivers of success. Simple, clear and easy to measure goals work best.

Our next step is to cascade this down into the business and set goals for each department and each individual. To unlock this at the individual level try asking the question – what do you do, really? Identify the one outcome of your job that contributes most to the success of the department (or company) as a whole?

This is such a powerful question for you as a leader too. What is the most valuable task for you to focus on? If you had to choose only one goal for the year, what would it be? Now when you break that down into a target for this quarter, this month and this week, it really forces you to tighten up your thinking!

I like to use January to test and refine my daily routines that help me function at a high level and work towards those goals. These routines should be realistic and workable for the whole year because progress happens when we consistently apply a habit or action, not when we jump in and out, in fits and starts.

So, this week is a simple challenge – why not set yourself a single high-value goal and commit to reaching it every week for the next month – then let’s check in to see how you went.

Me, I’m checking my to do list daily and keeping a close eye on my weekly goals because achieving them keeps me fired up and positive, and because I want to avoid working on Saturday to catch up – like I did last weekend!