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Remember in grade school when the teacher would make you write down goals and expectations at the beginning of the year? Then she'd put them all in a box and save them for the last day of school. Then each person would get to read what he wrote down and it was kinda fun.

Well I'm not going to ask you to find a shoe box and carefully write out a ten year plan, but I am going to follow-up from the last post in December. As you reviewed what you did in 2009, now is a time to look forward into 2010.

Every day we have little goals that we need to accomplish. If you're like me you probably write a bunch of those goals down. You might keep them on a notepad or maybe in your Outlook tasks, but either way you're keeping a list somewhere of what needs to be accomplished.

So my challenge to you is just to add an extra step to your list-making. There are probably certain areas in your business that you'd like to improve in. You might have some big well-defined goals as well. Take these goals and write them down. Then write down those more vague goals (improving our brand presence, impacting the community more…). Now, keep that master list somewhere you'll see it regularly. I suggest on your computer somewhere so that it won't get lost. Then each day while you're making your list of day-to-day chores compare it to your master list for 2010. See if you can find how every little goal (checking your email, responding to this client or completing that task) is a step towards your yearly goals.

It doesn't' take very long to categorize your "to-dos" so spend the extra time seeing how each step is getting you a little closer to your corporate goals. And if something on your list does NOT match up with one of your goals, take a moment to sincerely consider if it's worth doing.

I once heard that you should never make resolutions, only decisions. What kind of goals are you setting for your company in 2010?