The New Year's resolution trap: Why successful leaders don't wait until January 1st

Waiting for the New Year to start chasing business objectives is a costly mistake. Accountability coach Grant Difford challenges SME leaders to ditch the calendar crutch and embrace “today tasks” – small, actionable steps you can take now to drive progress.

The champagne is flowing, the ball is dropping, and across the world, business owners are making the same fatal mistake: Waiting until January 1st to chase their most important goals. As both a business owner and accountability coach, I’ve watched this pattern repeat itself year after year, and it’s time we called it what it is – a comfortable excuse for inaction.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: If your goal isn’t important enough to start today, it won’t be any more important on January 1st.

Think about what happens when we tie our goals to the calendar. We create an artificial starting line that serves as a psychological crutch. “I’ll start my business expansion in the new year” or “I’ll improve my team processes in January”, becomes a socially acceptable way to postpone action on critical business objectives.

But here’s what successful business owners understand: Time doesn’t wait for the perfect moment, and neither should you.

Consider this: Every day you postpone action on a meaningful goal costs your business real money, opportunities, and growth. That’s not just motivational speak – it’s basic business math. If your goal is to generate an extra $1,000 per month in revenue, every month you wait costs you $1,000, and you’ll never get back.

The allure of January 1st is powerful because it plays into our love of clean slates and fresh starts. But successful business leadership isn’t about clean slates – it’s about consistent, imperfect action.

Instead of thinking about your annual goals, let’s shift the focus to what I call “today tasks” – the small, specific actions you can take right now that move you toward your larger objectives.

Here’s how to transform any big goal into actionable today tasks:

Take your major goal and ask yourself: “What’s the smallest possible step I could take today?”
Make it so small it seems almost ridiculous: Want to overhaul your customer service? Start by spending 15 minutes reviewing your last three customer complaints.
Focus on systems over outcomes: Don’t aim to “grow revenue by 50 percent” – instead, commit to calling two potential clients every morning before checking email.
Track your today tasks religiously: What gets measured gets managed.

Motivation is like the New Year’s champagne – it bubbles up quickly but fades just as fast. Discipline, on the other hand, is the quiet force that drives consistent progress regardless of the calendar date.

As a lone leader, you don’t have the luxury of waiting for motivation to strike. Your business needs you to act with intention every single day. This means:

Setting up non-negotiable daily practices that align with your goals
Creating accountability systems that work even when willpower doesn’t
Measuring progress in terms of actions taken, not just results achieved
Celebrating small wins while maintaining focus on longer-term objectives

If you’re reading this article (regardless of the date), here’s your challenge:

Identify one meaningful goal you’ve been postponing
Break it down into a single today task that takes 15 minutes or less
Do it immediately after finishing this article
Schedule tomorrow’s today task before going to bed

Remember: The most successful business owners aren’t the ones who make the grandest New Year’s resolutions. They’re the ones who look at their watch, not their calendar when deciding when to start.

The bottom line

January 1st is just another day. Your business goals are too important to wait for an arbitrary date to begin pursuing them. The question isn’t “What are your goals for the new year?” but “What meaningful action can you take in the next hour?”

Because here’s the real secret: The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is right now. And if your goal truly matters to your business, that’s all you need to know.

Take action today. Tomorrow will take care of itself.