According to an article on mygoals.com, there is a right way and a wrong way to make a New Year's resolution. Here are a few expert tips to see that your resolution actually makes a difference:

1. Create a Plan
Setting a goal without formulating a plan is merely wishful thinking. In order for your resolution to have resolve, (as the word "resolution" implies), it must translate into clear steps that can be put into action. A good plan will tell you (A) What to do next and (B) What are all of the steps required to complete the goal.

2. Create Your Plan IMMEDIATELY
If you're like most people, then you'll have a limited window of opportunity during the first few days of January to harness your motivation. After that, most people forget their resolutions completely. It is imperative that you begin creating your plan immediately.

3. Write Down Your Resolution and Plan
myGoals.com exists to help you formulate a plan, which we then help you stick to. But even if you don't use myGoals.com, commit your resolution and plan to writing someplace, such as a notebook or journal.

4. Think 'Year Round', Not Just New Year's
Nothing big gets accomplished in one day. Resolutions are set in one day, but accomplished with a hundred tiny steps that happen throughout the year. New Year's resolutions should be nothing more than a starting point. You must develop a ritual or habit for revisiting your plan.

And finally...

5. Remain Flexible
Expect that your plan can and will change. Life has a funny way of throwing unexpected things at us, and flexibility is required to complete anything but the simplest goal. Sometimes the goal itself will even change. Most of all, recognize partial successes at every step along the way. Just as a resolution isn't accomplished the day it's stated, neither is it accomplished the day you reach your goal. Rather, it's accomplished in many small increments along the way. Acknowledge these incremental successes as they come.

Have you signed up for ASSAP 2008 yet? If you want to receive your free book from Brenda Bence, you must be within the first 100 to register before the end of January - PLUS you'll get in at Early Bird fees!

With the theme 'Forward Moving', this fantastic one-day conference has some fabulous speakers whose presentations you will find enriching, entertaining and energising! After ASSAP 2008, you will be ready to rev up your engines and move forward confidently into a future packed with potential!

Topics at ASSAP 2008 include confident interpersonal skills, cross-cultural effectiveness, building relationships, developing your creativity, crafting your personal brand at work, communicating clearly, using NLP to achieve your goals, as well as personal effectiveness.

It's set to be the event of the year for PAs, secretaries, executive assistants, admin managers, co-ordinators, supervisors, all admin, clerical and support staff - and that means YOU! You can't afford NOT to attend ASSAP 2008.

Check out the brand new ASSAP 2008 website and register now!

I regularly subscribe to several ezines, and in Speaker Sue's ezine this month (www.speakersue.com) she talks about how you could increase your productivity if you stop fiddling. Read on...

You've read all about email bankruptcy and how it's critical to have an empty email inbox at the end of the day. You've probably also heard that you can increase productivity by checking your email only 2-3 times a day, turning off the ping, changing your email server thing so that you only get email 2-3 times a day, etc.

Keep reading, please, especially those of you who say that you have to be attached to your email because your clients expect you to respond immediately.

You don't have to do any of the above. Here's all you really have to do: Stop fiddling with your BlackBerry/iPhone/email long enough to focus on accomplishing your overall goal for that day, week, month or year.

What is your tactical goal for today? What is your strategic goal for the week, month or year? How much time have you scheduled to achieve both your tactical and your strategic goals? Often strategic goals require quiet, thinking time. But we (yes, I include myself!) get so caught up in the endorphin high of receiving and answering our email that we lose sight of the bigger picture. And then we complain that we don't get anything done in a day.

2008: It's our year to stop fiddling!

Copyright Sue Hershkowitz-Coore ww.SpeakerSue.com.