With another January here, it is time to envision goals for the new year. Most of us will think big, just knowing deep down that this will finally be our time to close that big client, get that promotion, and maybe even get fit and trim during the coming months.

You can certainly do all of those things, and more, but remember that this may not be the first occasion that you made these promises to yourself. It is a well-known phenomenon that New Year’s resolutions and lofty goals are easy to lose track of once the real work of achieving them – not to mention keeping up with day-to-day life – begins in earnest.

With that in mind, here is one way to get an early start on the process and keep yourself motivated: Spend a little bit of time thinking about the things you are disappointed you did not do last year. In other words, embrace your 2011 disappointments. Think about them deeply and analyze the reasons you might have come up short. Were they not really as much of a priority as you thought, were you not able to make the time, or did your willpower not hold up the way you thought it would?

These can be uncomfortable questions to ask ourselves, and aren’t nearly as much fun as envisioning a brighter future is. Going through this process of self-reflection can be a big help, however, as the answers to those questions can cause you to remember stumbling blocks you might have otherwise overlooked. Tough as it might be to face them head-on, anticipating them in 2012 could make all the difference in overcoming them.

I hope you will all had a wonderful holiday season and hold big dreams for the coming year. As you do, consider the challenges you faced in reaching your goals last year, and think hard about ways to get past them this time around. One helpful start would be to invest in some type of time management training to help you with focus and scheduling.  

A great thing about seeing a new year is realizing that you are smarter and wiser than you were before. Take what you’ve learned in 2011 and use it to make your life even better this January.