Goals may not be your favorite subject, but hang in there with me. There’s something even more important I want to share with you.

My wife and I did our getaway Sunday night for our Quarterly Review. If you’re not sure what I am talking about let me refer you to my e-book, “10 Ways to Get More of What You Want.” I devote an entire chapter to this topic.

As usual, it was a very productive and refreshing time. I can only say it was way too short. That’s actually one of my goals for this year – a longer getaway with my lovely bride.

Being our last one of the year, we used a portion of the time to each set our goals for the upcoming year. That was personally rewarding for both of us. But, something else came out of our time, or maybe I should say came clearer into focus, that is critically important.

THE ONE THING

With the consistent tidal wave of demands that come your way I am sure you are no stranger to the feeling of being pulled in too many directions. You probably have the stretch marks to show for it. That’s why I’ve become a big fan of going into each year with an overarching theme for my life and/or work. It is one of the latest and most important tools I have added to my toolbox.

Coming up with a theme helps provide something you and I both desperately need – clarity. Why? Because if everything is important, nothing is. We need to be able to focus.

This doesn’t mean that we become myopic or that nothing else outside the theme gets done. It does mean that there is a clear priority that helps us put everything else in perspective.

That proves extremely helpful when there are competing priorities – which will happen over and over again. By coming up with a theme, an overarching priority, I have done a lot of the hard work of determining which project or task gets my best energy and attention.

MY THEME FOR 2016

Building my business has obviously been a fairly consistent, albeit general, theme for me throughout the last eight years. Over the last four months that general theme has started to become more and more narrow in its focus. It is still, at its core, all about building stronger leaders who will shape what tomorrow looks like. And, helping those leaders get more of what they want and less of what they don’t.

What is changing in 2016 is that my top priority, my theme, is going to be Expanding the Resources We Offer (for my clients and my online audience). Up until now, it’s only been me. I was the resource. Since August, I have been building a team and a variety of resources that will provide a much better, more robust support system.

Over the last four months, the team has grown substantially. If you have listened to my podcast, you have already met my newest team member, my son Phil Denner. I have really enjoyed having him on the team because he is adding a fresh perspective. Our next podcast releases on January 6th.

If you have visited my website you have witnessed the work of three of my other team members – Matt, Danielle, and Jon Denner. They are my webmaster, photographer (and Admin Asst.) and videographer, respectively. I know I am biased, but they do top notch work. Their contribution has really grown, and with the plans we have for 2016 they will be even more involved.

And, I certainly can’t forget my wife, Andrea. Her contribution has been wide and varied and utterly consistent. She is my best friend and a key business advisor.

OUR FIRST PRODUCT

I am very excited to share with you that our first product is almost ready for release. The team has been hard at it for the last 4-6 months and we’re close, very close. It is an online video course called, “7 Days to Becoming a Great Manager.”

We’ll be releasing more info about that in the next week or two. It’s going to be a fantastic resource.

The team and I here at Alliant Leadership would like to wish you a wonderful and very Happy New Year!

Question: What is your ONE thing for 2016?

Seize the day!