Get Your FACTs Straight

A recent web search on New Year’s Resolutions showed that 45% of Americans usually make New Year’s Resolutions, but only 8% actually achieve them.  Resolutions usually fall into categories of money, health, relationships, and education/self improvement. 

Here are a few questions to consider:  If you are in sales, how effective is your activity?  If you are in marketing, what kind of results are you getting and does it cover your break even?  Is that advertisement really paying for itself or would the money and time investment be better leveraged elsewhere?  If you are striving for better health, are you aware of your consistency and the measure of your results?

Many of us don’t know the answers to these questions.  Have you ever considered the value of testing and measuring to be sure your plan is working?  This, of course, assumes you have formulated a plan in the first place!

It’s time to get your FACTs straight.  FACT stands for Formulate, Act, Compare and Tune.  Whether sales, marketing, human resources, strategy planning, or even exercise – take the proper time to formulate a plan for your desired outcomes, then act upon your strategy.  Here is where I see most failure occur – people simply don’t do what they say they’ll do.  They just don’t ACT; at least not consistently and not long enough to gain a true measure of value.  Once a proper amount of time has passed with consistent execution, compare your outcomes with your plans - measure the results.  Finally, it’s time for tuning.  This is all about making proper adjustments – execute better, scrap it, change it, adjust the goal –whatever it takes to be sure you’re always working toward an effective, measurable result. 

There you have it – FACT.  To move ahead and be sure you’re further this year than you are today, it’s time to get your FACTs straight!