Starting a new year is exciting. It’s always filled with promise, enthusiasm and the hope that everything will be better than the year before. Many of us jump into the year with the tried and true “New Year’s resolutions” list of things that won’t ever get done.

There’s been much written about why the typical resolution of “eat better” or “go to the gym” or “drop 50lbs” just doesn’t work. And I tend to agree with much of it.

Think about what happens this time of year, and let’s consider going to the gym more to be your resolution. You run out and grab a bunch of new gear, read up on some quality diet ideas, learn a few new exercises you’re going to incorporate into your routine and hit the gym hard. You want to be strong, you want to get ripped, you want to look great in a pair of pants that haven’t fit in a while.

But guess what, in about 2 months, you go from 4-5 days a week to 2. Then, a month or so after that, it’s once a week. By summer, you go “when you can” and by August you’re paying for a membership you won’t use but once a month. This is pretty typical of many resolutions and it’s why I don’t fall into the trap.

A mentor of mine once turned me onto the 1% rule, which is something I now live by in my daily life, and it can easily be applied in place of any overreaching (and likely to not happen) New Year’s resolution.

The idea behind the 1% rule is looking at small, marginal increases that not only are attainable but in a year’s time, can equal more than what you might have set for yourself as a resolution.

I look at it like this: if I’m just 1% better every day, how does that look at the end of the year? I can be 1% better than I was the day before.

You can easily apply this logic to your dealership’s goals, but rather than saying you’re going to sell 5,000 more cars, simply say you’re going to sell 1% more each week, for the entire year. Here’s why that is a better approach:

• For you, it’s easy to measure progress.
• For your staff, they can get behind an idea, rather than be scared by such a large number.
• Burnout is less likely because progress can be seeing immediately.

If you truly become 1% better each week, think about what that will result in over 52 weeks. I guarantee you’ll have yourself a pretty solid 2016.

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