Effectiveness Tip of the Week via an email from the good folks at FranklinCovey:

Resolve to Real Productivity

On January 1, millions of Americans took part in the annual ritual of setting New Year's resolutions. According to a recent FranklinCovey survey, statistics show that by February 1, most of these resolutions will have failed and the people who set them will have fallen back into the same habits they tried to eliminate just one month earlier. However, statistics also show that setting realistic goals, adopting a plan of action and sticking to that plan can be the deciding factor in the ability to successfully achieve a goal.

According to the study:

• 78% of successfully achieved goals had plans.
• 84% of goals were successfully achieved within the original plan